Final Battle has been one of the premier events on the Ring Of Honor calendar. A lot of the biggest matches and moments in company history have taken place at Final Battle events. Homicide defeating Bryan Danielson to win the RoH World Title in 2006. Austin Aries ending the epic World Title reign of Samoa Joe in 2004. Huge Japanese names like The Great Muta, Takeshi Morishima, KENTA, and Naomichi Marufuji competing through the years. Two years main evented by the legendary feud between El Generico and Kevin Steen. The list really does go on and on.
This year’s edition of Final Battle comes to us from the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.
What history will be made tonight? It’s time to find out.
Let’s have some fun.
Billie Starkz vs Deonna Purrazzo – Pure Wrestling Rules Tournament Final to crown the inaugural RoH Women’s Pure Champion
Jon Moxley came out to do commentary for Wheeler Yuta and Daniel Garcia’s match against Grizzled Young Veterans on the pre-show, and he continues to be on commentary for the pay-per-view itself, joining RoH regular commentary duo Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman.
WrestleTix didn’t report on the attendance for this show, but this certainly isn’t a very big crowd. During the Death Riders entrance on the pre-show, they walked past multiple completely empty sections of floor seating. There are a couple of floor seating rows, and then something in the vicinity of ten bleacher rows behind them. If I had to guess, I’d say attendance is in the 750-1000 mark.
In the early minutes of the match, both women appear to be moving in slow motion. The technical wrestling is strong, and they’re hitting each other with some solid strikes, but getting from spot to spot is seeing them basically move a hair faster than a walk.
While discussing how natural Billie is, and how she started her career at such a young age, Mox says that she may have been born inside of a wrestling ring, and then ponders if she may have been conceived inside of a wrestling ring. These are the hard-hitting questions that only a Jon Moxley is going to ask.
Billie has used up all of her rope breaks, and now, per Pure Wrestling rules, she has none left. If Deonna locks her in a submission hold, Billie can’t break it by grabbing the ropes now, potentially changing the entire strategy here from both women.
Well, it didn’t matter. Moments after losing her final rope break, Billie was trapped in Deonna’s Venus De Milo submission in the center of the ring and verbally submitted. Deonna Purrazzo is the brand new, and very first, RoH Women’s Pure Champion.
The match had a good amount of technical wizardry thrown in, but as I mentioned, it was really slow at times getting from spot-to-spot. I can’t give it more than 3 Stars. I’m a little disappointed, because I know what both women are capable of.
Nigel McGuinness vs Lee Moriarty – 30-Minute Ironman Match
It is important to note that Moriarty’s Pure Title isn’t on the line here, and that this is simply about Nigel wanting to prove that he can “go” in singles competition with the champion.
A “holy shit” chant breaks out before the bell even rings, which is juuuuust a bit of a dramatic overreaction to things. These two faced each other at last year’s Final Battle, after all.
I didn’t even get a chance to type much before Nigel taps out to a Border City Stretch. We aren’t even four minutes in, and Moriarty is now up 1-0. It seemed like everyone was surprised that a fall happened so quickly. Commentary was quiet, and so were the fans. It took a second or two for any real reaction. That was an interesting way to start.
Even though he had so much time left, Moriarty started slowing the pace down, trying to milk the clock. I think you need to do a little more to put the veteran away, my man. Stalling for a few seconds is one thing, but stalling for 25 minutes is something else entirely.
I already mentioned that this is a small crowd, but they don’t appear to be very loud, either. There are times when AEW runs Dynamite or Collision in a small venue with a small crowd, but AEW fans are notoriously loud and passionate for the company, so the fan noise always makes it sound like more people are in attendance than are really there. You’d think, with this being an AEW product, that it would be the same thing, but apparently not.
Moriarty picks up another fall, this time with… a rollup. Yet another interesting decision. Nigel is down 2-0 just over one-third of the way through the match, and it didn’t exactly take a ton of work from Moriarty to get there.
The dramatic oversell has now reached commentary. Caprice Coleman just said that it’s almost impossible for Nigel to win this match now that he’s down two falls. There are over 15 minutes left in the match! Down 2-0 with 15 seconds left, sure, but 15 minutes? Come on.
Nigel wasn’t ever being confused with WCW Blitzkrieg with his in-ring pace, even in his prime, but he probably should pick things up a bit. He needs two falls to tie, and three falls to win, and he’s wrestling like this is a one-fall-to-a-finish match. He’s going to mess around and make Caprice right.
After working on Moriarty’s shoulder for a while, Nigel gets him to tap out. With just under 11 minutes left in the match, Moriarty is now up 2-1, but the momentum is in Nigel’s corner now.
Fuck. No, it isn’t. Within SECONDS of being pinned, Moriarty rolls Nigel up AGAIN and gets another pin. With about 10 minutes to go, Moriarty is now up 3-1. I am not a fan of the way these falls have happened. Not at all. Four falls… two roll ups, one submission that happened before a television commercial break would’ve taken place, and another submission that saw someone tap out within a split second of the hold being locked in.
Ian Riccaboni just said this would be a “career-making win” for Moriarty if he holds on. Why? As I mentioned, he faced Nigel in a match at last year’s Final Battle, and he won. Hyperbole isn’t always your friend, folks.
There are less than five minutes remaining, and Nigel is still two falls down, but he’s still walking around with seemingly no urgency at all. Sigh. The wrestling itself has been fun in the match, but the way it has been put together has been a mess.
Nigel hits his trademarked Lariat on Moriarty… for a 2.999 count. There are about three minutes to go, and instead of Nigel having that urgency to win, he just sells shock that he didn’t get the pin for WAY too long.
A Border City Stretch attempt is simply reversed for a pin by Nigel. There are approximately 90 seconds left in the match, and Moriarty is only up 3-2 now. If you’re keeping track, that’s essentially three falls in this match by some sort of rollup.
I don’t even know what to say right now. With about a minute to go, Moriarty decides to go for the kill instead of coasting to the win, and then it costs him, as Nigel gets… you guessed it… a roll up for the pin. It’s tied 3-3 now.
JESUS CHRIST. Seconds later, Nigel ROLLS MORIARTY UP for the pin, and he’s up 4-3 with only seconds to go.
Behind the Referee’s back, Shane Taylor punches Nigel in the face at ringside, rolls Nigel back in, and Moriarty pins him for the three right as the time expires. The fall counts, and we’re tied 4-4 as time runs out. I hate everything about the way this match has been put together.
Nigel is ready to accept a draw, and he walks away, but Moriarty gets on the mic and tells him to get back to the ring. It is revealed that we’re going to Sudden Death now, with the next fall winning the match for someone.
Would you like to take a guess on how the first couple minutes of Sudden Death went? Roll. Up. After. Roll. Up. After. Roll. Up. After. Roll. Up.
Moments in, Moriarty gets the pin, bridging up on a double pin at the last second, and he wins the match. The wrestling was worthy of a higher grade, for sure, but the way things were put together absolutely sucked, and it brought things down. I’ll call it 3 Stars and move on before I get angry at just how stupid that was at various times.
I guess Jon Moxley’s time on commentary is done. Between matches, he grabs a mic and cuts a promo at ringside, doing face work by mentioning how he was born and raised in Ohio, and hyping up his Continental Classic match against Konosuke Takeshita tomorrow night on Collision. Interesting strategy for a hated heel. He finishes the promo by dropping the mic on the announce table and then walking out through the crowd. Okay then.
Mercedes Moné vs Red Velvet – RoH Women’s Television Title Match
During Mercedes’ entrance, Caprice Coleman reveals that he struggles to count. As usual, Mercedes has a bunch of men holding all of her various title belts. There are clearly 11 titles on display, but Caprice says it’s 12. Before Mercedes comes out, Ian Riccaboni says that the 13th title is around the waist of Mercedes. He’s partially right, as there is a title belt around her waist, but there’s also another one over her shoulder. Come on. This isn’t difficult.
Less than two minutes deep, and the feed cuts out for me. The screen is frozen, so I go back, and it takes multiple attempts to restart the feed before I see anything. I probably missed between 60-90 seconds of the match. When the feed returns, Mercedes is controlling the action with a methodical pace.
When Red Velvet is on offense, it is getting some of the better crowd reactions of anything that has happened so far on the show. I’m sure the crowd likes her, but it’s more due to their dislike of Mercedes. Unfortunately, RV’s offense never really lasts long, as Mercedes has controlled most of the match.
I haven’t kept track, but I think both women have delivered approximately 39 moves each involving knees, from straight strikes to Meteoras, and everything in between.
While checking the Wikipedia page for this show to see if they had match lengths for the previous matches, I see that it was listed that Sammy Guevara won the show’s main event to win the RoH World Title. Odd spoiler, unless that match happened as a pre-show dark bout. If Sammy wins the match, I’m going to have a lot of questions.
Red Velvet gets the pin out of nowhere, winning the match and regaining the title she only “lost” due to injury. It looks like the downfall of Mercedes is underway, and she will probably lose all of her titles in rapid succession. The bar wasn’t very high, but this was the best match of the show so far. 3.5 Stars. Both women worked hard, although I think Mercedes clearly wasn’t as motivated as she usually is.
“Dynamite Kid” Tommy Billington & Adam Priest vs Sammy Guevara & The Beast Mortos – Tag Match for the vacant RoH Tag Team Titles
Sammy and Dustin Rhodes were the champions, but the titles were vacated when Dustin was put on the shelf with a knee injury. Rush stepped in to team with Sammy, and they won the vacant titles. Then, Rush injured his knee, and the titles had to be vacated again. Now, Sammy goes to make weird wrestling history by being the first person in anyone’s knowledge to win the same title three consecutive times. If he does, look for Mortos may want to take out an insurance policy on his knees.
LOL @ the dynamic between Sammy and TBM. Sammy, of course, is hated by the live crowd, but they are big fans of Mortos, cheering for him while Sammy is in the ring and then popping when Sammy tags him in.
Kind of popping, anyway. The crowd still sucks. At times, this almost sounds like a pandemic-era show. Sammy’s heel heat has taken the lead for the loudest reactions of anything on the show so far, though.
Sammy and TBM are playing to the crowd, constantly tagging in and out. We’re basically getting a “boo/yay” back-and-forth, but with tags instead of strikes.
Not that it matters, but the Wikipedia page has been changed, and Sammy is no longer listed as the winner of the World Title match.
I’m a fan of both Billington and Priest, and I really dig their pairing. I don’t know if they’re “ready” to be the RoH Tag Team Champions just yet, but I do like the potential that they show. Billington, specifically, seems to have a very bright future.
With the Referee distracted, Hechicero runs out and hits both Billington and Priest. It’s enough of a distraction for Mortos to get the pin and the win. Sammy and Mortos are the new Tag Team Champions, and yes, Sammy now has three consecutive reigns.
The match itself was decent enough, but I don’t know if there was any real suspense. It seemed pretty obvious what the outcome would be, and I do think that hurt things a bit. It’s one thing to have an obvious outcome on television, but when it happens on pay-per-view, that’s not ideal. 3.25 Stars
Eddie Kingston vs Josh Woods
Well, fuck. Something tells me this is going to be yet another match with a really obvious outcome. Kingston has an AEW World Title shot on Dynamite in less than a week. Why in the world would he lose to Josh Woods here? Woods has good success in RoH, but he hasn’t won a match in AEW in nearly three years, and that was on Dark. You have to go back to October 2022 to find Josh’s one and only win on AEW television. This has no business being on pay-per-view, even if it’s “just” an RoH pay-per-view.
If you’ve ever watched Eddie Kingston or Josh Woods wrestle, it should come as no surprise that this match has had a very slow pace to start.
Woods locks Kingston in an arm submission to zero reaction from the crowd. Ouch. They suck to begin with, but again, there is no reason to think Kingston is going to lose this match, no matter what happens.
A DDT is enough to put Woods away, and Kingston picks up the expected win. Nothing terribly offensive here, but nothing all that special, either. 2.75 Stars. I don’t know if this is the type of momentum Eddie needs before his World Title match against Samoa Joe.
Shane Taylor, Carlie Bravo & Capt. Shawn Dean vs Scorpio Sky, Dante Martin & Darius Martin – Six-Man Tag Match for the RoH Six-Man Tag Team Titles
If you’ve been paying attention to my review so far, I haven’t exactly found this to be a great show through five matches. Will this one change things up and deliver something great?
It’s crazy to see how much weight Darius Martin has put on since debuting in AEW. I’m not saying it’s the be-all, end-all or anything. Just making an observation that he is a much larger human being than he was a few years back, and not due to a bunch of added muscle.
Shane Taylor hits Darius with a Uranage, which Riccaboni (who is white) calls. Caprice Coleman (who is black) responds with “WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!?” Funny.
I feel like I say this during every RoH pay-per-view, but I love the in-ring chemistry that Shane Taylor Promotions has built together. They are so entertaining, and I feel they deserve more shine than they get, even as the Six-Man Tag Champions. They would look good on AEW programming.
Dante Martin tags in and hits an incredibly impressive flurry of offense, literally flying all over the ring, inside and outside and inside again. Easily the best stretch of any match on the show so far. That was fun.
Shane Taylor punches Darius in the face, and Darius gets rolled up (!!!) for the pin and the win. The champions retain. It was an entertaining match while it lasted, but it didn’t seem to last very long. I’d still say it’s tied for the best match of the night so far, though. Good, but still not at the “great” level that pay-per-views need to have. 3.5 Stars
Ricochet vs Dalton Castle – AEW National Title Match
Castle’s entrance ends, and there are about five people clapping for him. My goodness. This is brutal.
Me thinks this is going to be yet another match with a super obvious outcome. Ricochet just won the title 13 days ago, and Dalton Castle hasn’t really been relevant in years.
You know what this show needed? A match with a slow pace. We’re getting Ricochet hitting one move, then walking around and talking trash with fans, then hitting one move, then talking trash with fans again. Joy.
It didn’t last long, and it sounded like three people were doing it, but there was “Ric-o-shit” chant just now.
You know what this match needed? A multiple-minute sequence where Ricochet goes to the top rope, but Dalton slowly rolls away before a move can be performed, followed by Ricochet putting Dalton back in place and going back to the top rope, only for Dalton to slowly roll away again.
Castle seems to be wrestling in slow motion. My interest is dwindling by the second.
Spirit Gun puts things away for Ricochet, who retains his title. 2.5 Stars. Look… none of the matches have featured BAD in-ring work, but holy hell, things are just so insanely boring. We’re approaching the three-hour mark on the show, with two matches to go, but it feels like I’ve been watching this show all day.
Bandido vs Sammy Guevara vs The Beast Mortos vs Komander vs Hechicero vs Blake Christian – Survival Of The Fittest Match for the RoH World Title
Survival Of The Fittest is an elimination match, which makes me cringe. I like the cast of characters here, but after everything I’ve seen so far, the thought of a match going really long (with another match to come) here is terrifying.
The match started multiple minutes ago, and we haven’t had any offense yet. It’s just Sammy, Bandido, and Mortos climbing the turnbuckles and getting piss poor crowd reactions.
Blake Christian with an impressive flurry of offense, and it gets zero reaction, then gets immediately followed by four people booing Sammy when he goes on offense.
For the love of everything that is holy… Bandido and Komander try tandem offense that takes entirely too long to set up, with three opponents standing at ringside like fucking morons and waiting to get splashed by Komander. We follow that up by the cameras staying on Komander and completely missing whatever the hell offense that Bandido performed on the other opponent on the opposite side of the ring.
Komander pins Sammy, making Sammy the first man to be eliminated from the match. We’re down to five competitors.
A SICK Springboard Poisonrana by Komander on The Beast Mortos! That was impressive as all hell. Seconds later, Mortos is pinned by Hechicero, upsetting the five people in the crowd who actually seem to care. We’re down to Bandido, Hechicero, Blake Christian, and Komander.
Blake Christian pins Komander, eliminating him, and we’re down to three. I’m not a fan of Elimination or Ironman bouts where falls happen in flurries like that. The three falls we’ve seen weren’t exactly back-to-back-to-back, but they did happen without much happening in between them. I don’t know who is producing the matches tonight, but they might need to attend rehab when the show is over.
Bandido pins Blake Christian, bringing us down to two men. Either Bandido or Hechicero is walking out of here as the RoH World Champion. Upset after being eliminated, Blake attacks Bandido, going after the shoulder that Bandido recently injured during a match in Mexico.
Bandido has been wrestling with only one arm for several minutes after the attack from Blake Christian. Hechicero is controlling the pace now.
After a ROLLUP, Bandido gets the pin and the win to retain his title. WHY ARE THERE SO MANY FUCKING ROLLUPS ON THIS SHOW?!?
There were some silly moments, but overall, this is the new leader for best match of the night. It still didn’t reach “great” territory, but it got close. 3.75 Stars
Athena vs Persephone – RoH Women’s Title Match
I completely understand that Athena is coming up on the 1,100-day mark in her reign as the RoH Women’s Champion, but how is this the Final Battle main event? Persephone is entertaining and all, but RoH always says that Final Battle is the biggest event of their calendar year, and she’s in the main event of said biggest event of the year?
Now that I’ve said that, watch this end up being a five-star Match Of The Year classic.
Oh, shit, did I just jinx it by saying that? Okay… now that I’ve said that, watch this end up being an absolute dud. Was that the double jinx?
Athena won the title all the way back at Final Battle 2022, nearly three full calendar years ago. That’s wild. Even more so is the fact that 99.99% of that reign has been behind the RoH Honor Club paywall, with very little people getting to witness it.
An absolutely ugly stretch of offense there, with communication issues, and both women struggling to lift the other up multiple times. Nothing was “botched,” but there was about four close calls that happened back-to-back-to-back-to-back. Slow it down, ladies.
Far more often than I can remember counting, fans in the front row are on-camera just looking at each other and chit chatting during matches. Just an embarrassing “performance” from this crowd in Columbus.
With the Referee distracted, Diamante goes to attack Persephone, attempting to choke her against the middle rope, but she is shown missing completely, essentially just touching Persephone’s hair and then walking away. Diamante then looks at the fans and says she didn’t do anything. Yeah, we know. We saw.
Athena throws Persephone against the barricade, and Persephone is on-camera selling the pain by moaning several times. Just then, my wife happened to walk by my office door and she asked me what the hell I was watching. Fantastic. Thanks a lot.
This has been a weird match so far. There have been a handful of wonky spots due to timing and miscommunication issues, but outside of that, the action has been fun. Very hard hitting from both women. I saw someone on Facebook wonder if the women have a language barrier between them, but I don’t think that’s the case. Mainly because Persephone is from Texas.
O-Face gets the pin and the win for Athena. After a bad start to the match, they managed to overcome those miscommunication hiccups to actually have a really fun match. If I rated things outside of quarters, this would’ve been the best match of the night at 3.82 or something ridiculous like that. As it is, let’s go with 3.75 Stars. Athena really might be the “Forever Champion.”
Nothing was graded less than “average” by me, but man, there was a lot to dislike about this show, from the way several matches were produced to the terrible crowd. Unless you’re really desperate to see some wrestling, or you’re a complete mega fan of someone on the card, you can probably skip the show if you didn’t already watch it. I’m so bored. There’s no reason this needed to be a nine-match, four-hour show.
