Ring of Honor - 2024

[hammerva]

Well apparently Willie Mack is part of the 6 man Survival of the Fittest match at Final Battle  I don't remember them using him to put him in the match but at least they are going to let him wrestle unlike Starks

[Curt McGirt]

On 12/13/2024 at 10:03 AM, hammerva said:

I mean did anyone even know that Willie Mack was still in AEW given how he hasn't been seen in about a year in any form.

Not me. At all. 

[DreamBroken]

Big Shotty vs Kaun is a solid opener this week in contrast to Lee getting nearly squashed by Toa Liona last week, he picks up the win here treated as an upset. Kaun wants to show respect after but Toa does not.

Good stuff from Aminata vs. Lady Frost. 

the Righteous beat and bloody Dustin at his wrestling school, nice something different adding to the build for the bullrope match. Similarly, the Lethal/QT sitdown interview was different for effective build while Red/Leyla have a brief face to face.

the Murder Machines, Archer & Cage, looked good beating the Iron Savages. Don Callis adding in some post match stomps was amusing. 

This week's throwback is last year's Final Battle main event, Athena/Billie 1. Such a great match that was, hope this year's delivers the same quality.

Serpentico vs Sidney Akeem was pretty good, was kinda surprised to see Serpentico get the win. 

Athena & Billie beat Missa Kate & Blair Onyx quick, then brawl afterwards with Athena laying out Billie with the title. Definitely seems like it's Billie's time now. Final Battle looks like it's gonna be another really good one. 

Fun  8 man tag main event of STP/GYV defeating Dark Order & Undisputed Kingdom. 

 

Final card for Final Battle tomorrow night at Hammerstein:

Spoiler

ROH WOMENS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Athena(c) vs. Billie Starkz

ROH WORLDS HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Chris Jericho(c) vs. Matt Cardona

ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP DOUBLE BULLROPE MATCH
The Sons of Texas (Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara)(c) vs. The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch)

ROH WOMENS TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Red Velvet(c) vs. Leyla Hirsch

ROH TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST MATCH
Brian Cage(c) vs. Willie Mack vs. AR Fox vs. Mark Davis vs. Blake Christian vs. Komander

ROH PURE CHAMPIONSHIP OPEN CHALLENGE
Lee Moriarty(c) vs. ???

Jay Lethal vs. QT Marshall

Mansoor (w/ Mason Madden) vs. Atlantis Jr.

Katsuyori Shibata vs. "Dynamite Kid" Tommy Billington 

 

ZERO HOUR:

The Infantry (Shawn Dean & Carlie Bravo w/ Trish Adora) vs. Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett)

Harley Cameron vs. HANAKO

Dark Order (Silver/Reynolds w/ Evil Uno) vs. Grizzled Young Vets (James Drake & Zack Gibson)

LeeJ (Lee Johnson & EJ Nduka) vs. Gates of Agony (Kaun & Toa Liona) 

 

[HarryArchieGus]

I like this Hammerschtein card. I am particularly interested in Mansoor v Atlantis Jr! Both seem to be incredibly underrated. I suspect Mansoor will surprise a few ppl. I also like the sounds of a Billington v Shibata match. Talk about a 'Dream' Match - Dark Order v GYV! Both for the comprable looks and in ring acumen. Very curious to see what kind of reception Harley Cameron gets. I hope it's as rambunctious as I sense it will be.

[Matt D]

9 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

I like this Hammerschtein card. I am particularly interested in Mansoor v Atlantis Jr! Both seem to be incredibly underrated. I suspect Mansoor will surprise a few ppl. I also like the sounds of a Billington v Shibata match. Talk about a 'Dream' Match - Dark Order v GYV! Both for the comprable looks and in ring acumen. Very curious to see what kind of reception Harley Cameron gets. I hope it's as rambunctious as I sense it will be.

So you’re primarily excited for the Zero Hour. 

[stuntmanc]

Looking at that card, it really feels like both the Womens and Mens World Title are prime to switch hands.  

[Matt D]

Let's run through the card, huh?

• Athena vs Billie: For a match with a year and a half of build it feels like it needed a few more weeks. Billie never had a clear face turn. She's a petulant heel who wasn't getting credit or attention from her bully cult leader mentor and had a hissy fit. If they did three months of Athena using her like Serpentico and her finally having enough, turning on her as she was trying to bully someone, reuniting with her mom, and having a clear babyface arc great. OR if this is leading to her snapping and becoming a worse monster as she beats Athena and Athena moves on as a tweener to face Mercedes, fine, but.... I'm just not feeling it. I think they screwed up the build.
• Velvet vs Leyla: There's no real hook here. Leyla's injury post the Diamante match didn't help. It's face vs face which doesn't help. There's just no personal issue except for "I'm better than you," which is fine except for that it's Velvet and Layla and there just isn't enough to either character to make this work. Even the face to face interview this week was just Grr! Grr! back and forth.
• Survival of the Fittest: Big dumb spotfest. What is there to say? Cage having an ROH title as part of the Murder Machines feels out of place honestly. They could give it to Mark Davis and basically save that dude's career.
• Lee Moriarty vs ???: If it's not Nigel or someone at that level, this will be a letdown. Got to be careful. You can't just trot out John Walters or something. I wonder if Matt Sydal is ready to return yet?
• Dustin/Sammy vs Righteous: By far the best build, some of the best build of anything in AEW all year. I worry about Sammy being effective in a double bullrope match but this should steal the show.
• QT vs Lethal: If they lean into shtick and feeling and QT wrestles this like the Big Boom AJ match then this will be one of the best things on the show. If they go workrate-y, then it'll just be some meaningless drivel.
• Mansoor vs Atlantis Jr.: I like matches like these for the TK ROH PPV randomness factor. This should be a lot of fun. I'm not sure if Atlantis is the right guy for all the tomfoolery but we'll see.
• Shibata vs Billington: A match! Should be interesting to see how Billington does.
• The pre-show all looks fun. I kind of wish they would make a trios with Silver, Bennett, and the GYV guy who looks like them. I bet Harley Cameron does something hilarious. The build for the Gates match has been good. I liked all the legwork in the Lee Johnson vs Kaun match for instance.

I don't think I missed anything.

[hammerva]

I know that Billie is walking in a face against Athena but I am not overly sure if she will end up one.  I can totally see he going too far to become a champion and people being judgemental about it.  But I agree she has to win the title.  No reason for Athena as great as she is to have a 3rd year run

[DreamBroken]

GYV/Dark Order made for a decent opener. Thought HANAKO looked very good and I like seeing the crowd get behind Harley.

Undisputed Kingdom/Infantry was pretty good  Liked Gates of Agony vs LeeJ a lot, but definitely did not see a seeming double turn coming in the aftermath.

Mansoor/Atlantis was a blast to open the main card. Huge pop for the surprise Danhausen return! 

Shibata/Billington ruled. Just beat the crap out of each other until Shibata wrapped him up. 

Lethal bringing back Black Machismo while QT cosplayed nWo Savage was amusing. Match was a ton of a fun with an epic pop for the surprise Jarrett appearance!

Red vs Leyla was pretty awesome. Loved all the back and forth, big fan of both. Thought Red looked fantastic here all the way through from the live performed entrance on, but I'm always pulling for Legit. Another unexpected heel finish from a face vs. face match this time. 

Great call mentioned above on Nigel! Excellent pure title match, great pop/response all around for Nigel. Loved the near falls throughout and a great defense for Moriarty. 

Tag titles match lived up as a wild brawl, though surprisingly not a bloody one. Loved Dustin & Sammy sporting the proper bunkhouse gear of kneepads over the jeans.

Survival of the Fittest was all action. Willie Mack going out first seemed to shock everyone for a moment but I thought Cage looked great early on. Felt like Cage should've gone on to the end for more drama since Davis went out right after eliminating Cage anyways. Final 2 still ended up epic, definitely reminding of last year's with Komander and Fletcher.  Nice moment here for Komander to finally win something.

House of Torture's Kanemaru & SHO are challenging the ROH tag champs at WrestleDynasty.

Enjoyed Jericho/Cardona, nice main event style title match. Great Jericho entrance to Frank Sinatra's New York. Welcome back Bandido afterwards, though I think he knocked himself a little loopy on his missile dropkick landing. the Jericho/Bandido match 2 years ago was one of my top favorites that year, so I can definitely dig this direction.

Main event was another epic that pretty much felt like they picked up where they left off, but truly shocked again by the outcome. The finishing stretch got a little clustery but another great match overall. I don't think there will be a satisfying end to Athena's reign whenever that happens at this point.

Good show overall, thought pretty much everything delivered and all the title matches were highlights.

they're promoting next week's episode as ROH "Boxing Day Brawl" also from Hammerstein.

 

full results ROH Final Battle:

Spoiler

ZERO HOUR:
*Grizzled Young Vets (James Drake & Zack Gibson) def. The Dark Order (John Silver & Alex Reynolds w/ Evil Uno) (11:20) after Grit Your Teeth on Silver

*HANAKO def. Harley Cameron (7:25) after a torture rack in to facebuster

*Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) def. The Infantry (Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean w/ Trish Adora & Shane Taylor) (9:51) when Bennett pinned Bravo after Rockstar Supernova.

*Gates of Agony (Kaun & Toa Liona) def. LeeJ (Lee Johnson & EJ Nduka) (10:26) after a double team on Johnson. After the match, the two teams shook hands until LeeJ turned heel and laid out the Gates of Agony.

ROH Final Battle - December 20, 2024 from Hammerstein Ballroom

*Atlantis Jr. def. Mansoor (w/ Mason Madden) (12:05) with the frog splash after a surprise appearance from Danhausen prevented Madden's interference. 

*Katsuyori Shibata def. "Dynamite Kid" Tommy Billington (9:39) via sleeper submission.

*"Black Machismo" Jay Lethal (w/ Sonjay Dutt & Sensational Karen Jarrett) def. QT Marshall (w/ Aaron Solo) (12:43) after 2 Lethal Injections. During the match, Jeff Jarrett showed up to take out Aaron Solo.

*Red Velvet(c) def. Leyla Hirsch (11:59) to RETAIN the Women's TV Championship after turning heel and hitting Leyla with a wrench behind the ref's back. 

*Lee Moriarty(c) (w/ Shane Taylor) def. Nigel McGuinness (17:07) via Border City Stretch submission to RETAIN the Pure Championship. (Judges: Daniels, Lynn, Romero)

*The Sons of Texas (Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara)(c) def. The Righteous (Dutch & Vincent) (15:37) when Dustin pinned Dutch after hitting him with the cowbell to RETAIN the tag team championships.

*Komander def. Willie Mack, AR Fox, Brian Cage(c), Mark Davis, & Blake Christian (25:20) to WIN the ROH TV championship.
-Cage pinned Willie Mack (9:30) after a lariat
-Cage pinned AR Fox (13:25) with a 2nd rope powerbomb
-Davis pinned Cage (16:40) after a piledriver
-Blake pinned Davis (17:04) with a low blow & rollup
-Komander pinned Blake (25:20) with the rope walk shooting star.

-Video promo from Yoshinobu Kanemaru & SHO challenging for the ROH tag team titles at WrestleDynasty.

*Chris Jericho(c) (w/ Bryan Keith) def. Matt Cardona (18:28) to RETAIN the ROH Championship after Keith used the ROH Title while Big Bill distracted the ref. After the match, they continued to attack Cardona until Bandido returned to make the save.

*Athena(c) (w/ Lexy Nair) def. Billie Starkz (25:40) to RETAIN the ROH Women's Championship with the O-Face after Billie hit the exposed turnbuckle.

 

[Casey]

I’m a little upset I subbed to HonorClub because it was truly a one match show for me, and my girl Billie didn’t even win. I don’t get it, unless the move is to stretch this feud out even longer and have it culminate in a Fight Without Honor or cage match or something. But I really don’t understand why Athena won the qualifier to move onto WrestleDynasty if she was just gonna retain here. I doubt she’s moving up to AEW if she’s still the undefeated Women’s champion in ROH. As it is right now, I could see Billie moving on before Athena.

Bandido absolutely concussed himself or something. And it’s weird they started doing return video packages for him on Dynamite, and now here he is in ROH. I thought for sure the GCW stuff would come into play, but I guess that’s over with already? Both main events were weird. One was a good match, the other had Jericho and it was pretty bland.

Oh well, I have HonorClub for a month - CM Punk matches here I come! And maybe some other classic stuff.

Edited December 21, 2024 by Casey

[HarryArchieGus]

The Dark Order v GYV opener was generally speaking a good solid contest. The Evil Uno Brodie Lee Papers spot was atrocious. Riccaboni selling it on commentary made it that much worse. Nonetheless, GYV looked like a well oiled machine. Hanako v Harley was a bit of a passive watch for me. Hanako looks like an interesting prospect. This was not the reaction to Harley I was hoping for, but it was very early. Infantry v Taven/Bennett was fine if a difficult story to sell. Taven/Bennett are completely out of place as babyfaces. What I saw of Nduka/Johnson v Toa/Kaun was embarrassing. I shut it off and missed the post match stuff. I think my expectations for Mansoor v Atlantis Jr were a bit lofty. Pretty solid bout, but not very memorable. Mansoor needs to tighten up his offense. Danhausen's return was good to start and a bit clunky the rest of the way. Completely overshadowed Atlantis' win. Also, Madden cheating in front of the ref to no admonishment took me right the fuck out of this. It's one thing when the guys make the refs look bad, but a referee not even calling to attention the cheating in front of his goddamn face is next level. Shibata v Billington was a nice strong showcase. Billington badly needs to find a bit of character. Under the radar on Honorclub might be the best place for him. QT v Lethal was a milldly comedic house show match. I missed most of Leyla v Red, but did not care for what I saw. Leyla's pants looked ridiculous. The design in the back looked like loose bloomers. Somebody needs to help this lady put together a reasonable presentation. I was ready to throw in the towel here, but then Nigel v Moriarty saved the show. What a relief! Excellent work all around from Nige. The choice to change some of the Pure Rules was a bit silly and unnecessary. Shane Taylor's mic work was awful - he couldn't find something/anything better to say than the 'Yankees and Mets suck'? C'mon Shane, do better. Moriarty stepped up here and Nigel looked as good as he's looked since returning. Big win for Lee. I thought Sammy/Dustin v Righteous was fine if mostly forgettable. Guevara needs the kind of hands on direction WWE offers. On his own he's very unlikable and having a hard time figuring this out. Forcing this babyface run is not helping him. He's as unnatural a babyface as Matt Taven and Mike Bennett. A lot of drama from Dustin here, but I couldn't find a way to buy this. Survival of the Fittest was easily the match of the night. I bought the show for the reaction Komander v Blake Christian got. I just thought it would be all night. I don't blame this audience for treating much of what came before cooly, but so glad they came alive for this deserving spectacle. Christian is a great heel. He's a great babyface too. They really oughtta start doing something with him. He was great here, as was Komander. The match leading to this was also a ton of fun. Blake's pin on Davis felt shocking and awesome. As did Davis pinning Cage. I thought Davis was winning - I think NYC did too. Mack and AR Fox were outstanding too. Elimination style always makes these multi-man matches so much more intriguing. Jericho v Cardona is about what one would expect. I thought they might've provided a bit more entertainment. Certainly glad they didn't strap Cardona. He's another natural heel playing babyface on this show. What the fuck was he doing using the Title belt in front of the ref? Insanely stupid. Further, how is it legal to hold his opponent for his Dad to lightly pat? ROH 2024! Jericho was game here, but a microwaved Cardona is not what anybody in the audience or at home would call a Main Event. What in the fuck happened with Bandido? He must have gotten concussed on that dropkick? I'm not gonna criticize further - they did what they could. Athena v Billie was mostly good and solid throughout minus some bad and contrived spots. Athena's over the top hammy heel stuff is growing thin, but maybe it's just having spent 3 plus hours watching this show. It's nice to have this Main Event, but the empty seats suggest they didn't quite sell the sizzle. I can't say that I don't reach for the FFWD button every time I see these two together in a talk segment. I also can't stand Lexi's association with Athena. So many bad ideas. I like all these ladies, but it comes off like a high school production of a pro wrestling angle. Kind of a bummer finish, but I like Billie losing if it means getting her on AEWTV proper. Sad seeing like 6 ppl on that left side of the ring. I sense it was partially a bad staging idea. The right side wasn't very full either. Not a great look. ROH is in need of a lotta work. Nobody working Honorclub outside of Athena and Billie are remotely over. The term over for them even feels loose. A quiet crowd for much of the night was not what I was expectiong. I hope this unsatisfactory showing leads to some adjustments. I really didn't like this show, but Survival of the Fittest and Nigel-Moriarty were a pair of treats.

Edited December 21, 2024 by HarryArchieGus

[HumanChessgame]

I just finished Final Battle and it's another case of an AEW PPV under-promising and over-delivering. While I keep up with ROH sporadically these days, so much of this was thrown together last minute but pretty much all of it delivered in-ring. The tag title was a good example as it was set up as some sort of blood feud and even had Dutch using Dusty's cowbell, yet there was very little actual buildup and the end result was nothing special (maybe NYC blood rules had something to do with this?). Nigel coming back was a surprise and the match really played to what he's able to do. I'll co-sign the Survival of the Fittest being the match of the night. All guys got a chance to shine and Blake Christian has taken his current indy character here, which suits him. This may veer into hot take territory, but Blake's weasely undersized high flying heel is everything Adam Cole wishes he was. Speaking of face/heel dynamics, Cardona is incredibly miscast as a face here when his big time former WWE wrestler gimmick he uses across the indies is so much better established and a natural fit for him, even if he is working a schmuck like Jericho. Athena and/or Billie are ready for the big time.

[The Natural]

Bandido is injured, he concussed himself doing the Missile Dropkick at ROH Final Battle 2024. I'm not surprised as he didn't know where he was, it was hard to watch. Bandido had only just come back after vignettes were aired for his return, he'd been out a while with a broken wrist.

[DreamBroken]

its ROH Boxing Day Brawl!

Blake Christian vs. AR Fox is a good fun opener as would be expected, with Blake heeling it up. 

Big Shotty & EJ Nduka suddenly being heels still feels random.   Shibata & Tommy Billington worked well together with a win over the Premier Athletes. 

Toni Storm makes her ROH debut with a quick squash of Rebecca Scott.

Throwback of the Week is Colt Cabana vs Nigel McGuiness, Soccer Riot match from 2005.

Awesome surprise Homicide appearance, reuniting with Rocky Romero to defeat QT & Aaron Solo, that ruled.  Pretty fun MxM Collection squash followed.

I knew Athena was gonna turn on Lexy ever since they said she would expel "a minion" rather than just saying it would be Billie, even though it would make no sense. 

Solid main event and first TV Title defense for Komander over Johnny TV

[hammerva]

Hopefully this isn't  Lexy Nair going away or something.   While I agree it was weird that she only did heel stuff here and was normal every other time I thought she was good

[hammerva]

It is weird and funny that Blake Christian in Ring Of Honor is basically Blake in GCW a year in the past.  I suppose next year we will start seeing his weird Lio Rush like character he does now

[HarryArchieGus]

11 hours ago, hammerva said:

It is weird and funny that Blake Christian in Ring Of Honor is basically Blake in GCW a year in the past.  I suppose next year we will start seeing his weird Lio Rush like character he does now

Curious to see what that is. Blake Christian is the ROHMVP of the Hammerstein. Excellent bout with Fox to open the show. I was always fond of Christian's ability to get the crowd as a cold babyface, but this heel persona is even stronger. He seems poised to do something substantial in 2025. 

[AxB]

Someone was talking up AR Fox's Final Battle performance on twitter, so I mentioned that seeing the building and that Fox was on the card, we were half expecting him to dive off one of the balconies. And then whoever runs Fox's Wrestling School's twitter replied to say that they saw him eyeing up the balconies earlier in the day.

I wonder if he proposed it and was told no? Because that seems more likely than him simply deciding not to do it.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

1 hour ago, AxB said:

Someone was talking up AR Fox's Final Battle performance on twitter, so I mentioned that seeing the building and that Fox was on the card, we were half expecting him to dive off one of the balconies. And then whoever runs Fox's Wrestling School's twitter replied to say that they saw him eyeing up the balconies earlier in the day.

I wonder if he proposed it and was told no? Because that seems more likely than him simply deciding not to do it.

If anyone is going to dive from the balcony, it's going to be Darby. 

[TheVileOne]

On 12/22/2024 at 1:10 PM, HumanChessgame said:

I just finished Final Battle and it's another case of an AEW PPV under-promising and over-delivering. While I keep up with ROH sporadically these days, so much of this was thrown together last minute but pretty much all of it delivered in-ring. The tag title was a good example as it was set up as some sort of blood feud and even had Dutch using Dusty's cowbell, yet there was very little actual buildup and the end result was nothing special (maybe NYC blood rules had something to do with this?). Nigel coming back was a surprise and the match really played to what he's able to do. I'll co-sign the Survival of the Fittest being the match of the night. All guys got a chance to shine and Blake Christian has taken his current indy character here, which suits him. This may veer into hot take territory, but Blake's weasely undersized high flying heel is everything Adam Cole wishes he was. Speaking of face/heel dynamics, Cardona is incredibly miscast as a face here when his big time former WWE wrestler gimmick he uses across the indies is so much better established and a natural fit for him, even if he is working a schmuck like Jericho. Athena and/or Billie are ready for the big time.

Unfortunately, Tony Khan sabotaged Athena by bringing her in to put over Jade Cargill. Once her contract is up, she should see if WWE has interest again.

[Matt D]

37 minutes ago, TheVileOne said:

Unfortunately, Tony Khan sabotaged Athena by bringing her in to put over Jade Cargill. Once her contract is up, she should see if WWE has interest again.

She could have only become this given full freedom and no mandates. Anchoring ROH was the best thing for her. She’s going to almost certainly be challenging Mercedes at All In on a stadium show as one of the tip matches. Given how she was previously used, anything she did in WWE would be a downgrade. 

[TheVileOne]

3 hours ago, Matt D said:

She could have only become this given full freedom and no mandates. Anchoring ROH was the best thing for her. She’s going to almost certainly be challenging Mercedes at All In on a stadium show as one of the tip matches. Given how she was previously used, anything she did in WWE would be a downgrade. 

At best she's going to get a Zero Hour pre-show match. She's still just a big fish in a small pond because they won't put her on cable TV. 

[HarryArchieGus]

I'm a fan of Athena, but I find her extremely hit/miss. Her ROH promo segments are completely unwatchable. Total nonsense. Flat out bad comedy. It'd be nice to see a bit more forward progression here. I like this heel persona, but it does sometimes comes off as a cartoon. Nonetheless, her In ring work is generally strong. I'd like to see more lower card AEW wrestlers use ROH as effectively as Athena. 

Edited December 30, 2024 by HarryArchieGus