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Final Battle (2023)

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Final Battle (2023)
Promotional poster featuring various wrestlers
PromotionRing of Honor
DateDecember 15, 2023
CityGarland, Texas
VenueCurtis Culwell Center
Attendance1,964
Event chronology
← Previous
Death Before Dishonor 		Next →
—
Final Battle chronology
← Previous
2022 		Next →
—

The 2023 Final Battle was the 22nd Final Battle professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by American promotion Ring of Honor (ROH). The event took place on December 15, 2023 at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas. The event exclusively aired on HonorClub[1] and was the first Final Battle event since 2007 not to feature an ROH World Championship match on the card.

Fourteen matches were contested at the event, with four on the Zero-Hour pre-show. In the main event, Athena defeated Billie Starkz to retain the ROH Women's World Championship. In other prominent matches, Dem Top Guys (FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) and Mark Briscoe) defeated Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli) in a Jay Briscoe Memorial Fight Without Honor, Kyle Fletcher defeated Komander, Bryan Keith, Lee Moriarty, Dalton Castle, and Lee Johnson in a Survival of the Fittest elimination match to win the vacant ROH World Television Championship, Ethan Page defeated Tony Nese in an "I Quit" match and in the opening contest, El Hijo del Vikingo defeated Black Taurus to retain the AAA Mega Championship.

Production

Background

Final Battle is a professional wrestling event produced by Ring of Honor. First held in 2002, it is traditionally ROH's last show in the calendar year.[2] It is widely regarded as Ring of Honor's premiere flagship event, similar to WWE's WrestleMania.[3][4] On October 18, 2023, ROH announced that Final Battle would be held at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas on December 15 and would air exclusively on HonorClub.[5]

Storylines

The event featured professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portray villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.[6] Storylines will be produced on ROH's weekly series ROH Honor Club TV exclusively on their streaming service Honor Club, on television programs of sister promotion All Elite Wrestling including Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision, and via promotional videos on both the ROH and AEW YouTube channels.

On the November 8 episode of Dynamite, Samoa Joe vacated the ROH World Television Championship in order to challenge for the AEW World Championship.[7] On the following ROH Honor Club TV episode, president Tony Khan announced that qualifying matches would take place over the next several weeks for the Survival of the Fittest elimination match that will take place at Final Battle on December 15, with the winner of that match becoming the new Television champion.[8] The first two men to qualify were Dalton Castle and Komander, who defeated Evil Uno and Gringo Loco respectively.[9] Kyle Fletcher, Lee Moriarty and Lee Johnson later qualified by beating Gravity, Josh Woods and Tracy Williams respectively. [10] On the December 14 episode of ROH Wrestling, Tony Khan announced that the sixth and final competitor in the Survival of the Fittest elimination match will revealed at Final Battle. [11]

On the December 2 episode of AEW Collision, interviewer Lexy Nair asked Keith Lee who he was referring to on the past week's Collision when Lee mentioning wanting to face “him”. As Lee was about to speak, Shane Taylor walked up and said that their tag team match on last year's Final Battle, where Lee teamed up with Swerve Strickland to defeat Taylor and JD Griffey, didn’t solve anything. Taylor then challenged Lee to a match for Final Battle, which Lee accepted.[12]

In weeks leading to Final Battle, "Smart" Mark Sterling scouted Ethan Page as a potential client, but Page turned down the invitation. Page went on a winning streak of five matches in a row. His next match was against Tony Nese, which he lost due to Sterling's interference. On the rematch, Sterling was ejected from ringside and Page won the match. For the rubber match, Sterling demanded he be allowed at ringside, and management agreed under the condition that Sterling will be handcuffed to the ring post. The official contract signing took place on the December 7 episode of ROH Wrestling.[13] where Sterling told Page that the match would be an "I Quit" match. Nese and Page then signed the contract and Sterling then threw powder into Page's eyes with Nese tossing Page through a table. The match was then made official for Final Battle.[14]

On the December 7 episode of ROH Wrestling, Bryan Danielson recalled that at the 2003 Final Battle event, he faced the late Jay Briscoe in his only match against him. Danielson then said that at last year's Final Battle, Jay had his final match, in which he teamed with his brother Mark Briscoe, against FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) in a Dog Collar match. Danielson then challenged Mark and FTR to face Blackpool Combat Club (Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, and Jon Moxley) in a Jay Briscoe Memorial Fight Without Honor, which was made official.[15]

In weeks leading up to Final Battle, Athena became the mentor of Billie Starkz and Lexy Nair, with Starkz and Nair becoming her 'minions'. On the November 23 episode of ROH Honor Club TV, Starkz and Athena lost to Ronda Rousey and Marina Shafir.[16] On the following episode of ROH Wrestling, Starkz defeated Shafir in a one-on-one match, with Starkz proceeded to attack Shafir after the match. Athena and Nair come out and feigned announcing that Starkz had graduated from 'minion training'. Athena then announced that only Nair was the valedictorian. Starkz then got upset and attacked Athena. Starkz then met Tony Khan backstage and requested a championship match with Athena, which Khan accepted. The match was then made for Final Battle.[9]

Results

No.ResultsStipulationsTimes
1PTaya Valkyrie (with Johnny TV) defeated Jazmin Allure by pinfallSingles match4:08
2PThe Von Erichs (Ross Von Erich and Marshall Von Erich) defeated The Outrunners (Turbo Floyd and Truth Magnum) by submissionTag team match[17]6:52
3PBryan Keith defeated Jack Cartwheel by pinfallSurvival of the Fittest Qualifier7:55
4PDaniel Garcia defeated Blake Christian by submissionSingles match12:15
5El Hijo del Vikingo (c) defeated Black Taurus by pinfallSingles match for the AAA Mega Championship[18]16:30
6The Mogul Embassy (Bishop Kaun, Toa Liona and Brian Cage) (c) (with Prince Nana) defeated TMDK (Kosei Fujita, Bad Dude Tito and Shane Haste) by pinfallSix-man tag team match for the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship[19]12:05
7Ethan Page defeated Tony Nese (with "Smart" Mark Sterling)"I Quit" match[20]20:05
8Nyla Rose defeated VertVixen by pinfallSingles match2:40
9Kyle Fletcher defeated Komander, Bryan Keith, Lee Moriarty, Dalton Castle, and Lee JohnsonSurvival of the Fittest Finals for the vacant ROH World Television Championship[21]25:55
10Wheeler Yuta (c) defeated Tom Lawlor by pinfallPure Wrestling Rules match for the ROH Pure Championship[22]
Christopher Daniels, Jerry Lynn and Jimmy Jacobs served as the judges.		13:10
11Keith Lee defeated Shane Taylor by pinfallSingles match[23]14:40
12Dem Top Guys (FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) and Mark Briscoe) defeated Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, and Claudio Castagnoli) by pinfallJay Briscoe Memorial Fight Without Honor[24]29:35
13Eddie Kingston defeated Anthony Henry by submissionProving Ground match
Since Henry did not last 10 minutes, he did not earn an opportunity to challenge for Kingston’s ROH World Championship.		5:45
14Athena (c) defeated Billie Starkz by submissionSingles match for the ROH Women's World Championship[25][26]28:30
(c) – the champion(s) heading into the match
P – the match was broadcast on the pre-show

Survival of the Fittest elimination match

Eliminated Wrestler Eliminated by Decision Notes Time
1 Lee Johnson Lee Moriarty Submission Submitted after being locked in the Border City Stretch 8:46
2 Dalton Castle Lee Moriarty Pinfall Pinned after a flatliner 11:20
3 Lee Moriarty Bryan Keith Pinfall Pinned after a Tiger Driver 15:38
4 Bryan Keith Kyle Fletcher Pinfall Pinned after the Grimstone 16:52
5 Komander Kyle Fletcher Pinfall 25:54
Winner Kyle Fletcher —

See also

References

  1. ^ Tessier, Colin (October 23, 2023). "ROH Final Battle 2023 Advertised To Be Exclusively On HonorClub". Fightful. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
  2. ^ DeRosenroll, Mike (December 19, 2009). "DeRosenroll's Classic ROH Feuds: History of "Final Battle" ROH World Title matches (2002–2005)". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved February 5, 2011. Final Battle has been the name of the last ROH show of each year since the promotion started in 2002
  3. ^ "December 28th Newswire". Ring of Honor. 2011-12-28. Retrieved 2013-10-28. The ROH athletes put it all on the line at the biggest event of the year. Replays of the iPPV broadcast of "Final Battle 2011" are available here.
  4. ^ "Final Battle 2012: Doomsday- New York, NY 12/16/12 (DVD)". Ring of Honor. Retrieved 2013-10-28. Ring of Honor closes out 2012 with the biggest event of the year...
  5. ^ Russell, Skylar (October 18, 2023). "Date, Location Announced For ROH Final Battle 2023". Fightful. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
  6. ^ Grabianowski, Ed (January 13, 2006). "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  7. ^ Powell, Jason (November 8, 2023). "AEW Dynamite results (11/8): Powell's live review of MJF vs. Daniel Garcia for the AEW World Championship, Samoa Joe vs. Keith Lee for the ROH TV Title, Swerve Strickland vs. Penta, Julia Hart vs. Red Velvet". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  8. ^ Robinson, Sam (November 10, 2023). "ROH on HonorClub results (11/9): Robinson's review of Eddie Kingston vs. Angelico for the ROH Championship, Athena vs. Heidi Howitzer in a Proving Ground match, Billie Starkz vs. Rachael Ellering". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
  9. ^ a b Robinson, Sam (December 1, 2023). "ROH on HonorClub results (11/30): Robinson's review of Komander vs. Gringo Loco, and Evil Uno vs. Dalton Castle in Survival of the Fittest qualifiers for the vacant ROH TV Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
  10. ^ Robinson, Sam (December 7, 2023). "Ring of Honor TV Resulta- Castle vs. Johnny TV". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  11. ^ Renner, Ethan (December 14, 2023). "ROH Final Battle TV title match to have mystery competitor". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  12. ^ Rose, Bryan (December 2, 2023). "Keith Lee vs. Shane Taylor added to ROH Final Battle". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
  13. ^ Pulido, Luis (December 7, 2023). "ROH On Honor Club (12/7/2023) Results: Billie Starkz In Action, Page & Nese Contract Signing, More". Fightful. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
  14. ^ Manolo Has Pizzazz (December 7, 2023). "I Quit match signed for ROH Final Battle". Cageside Seats. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
  15. ^ Defelice, Robert (December 7, 2023). "The Blackpool Combat Club vs. FTR And Mark Briscoe Set For ROH Final Battle 2023". Fightful. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
  16. ^ Robinson, Sam (November 24, 2023). "ROH on HonorClub results (11/23): Robinson's review of Ronda Rousey and Marina Shafir vs. Athena and Billie Starkz, Katsuyori Shibata vs. Trent Beretta for the ROH Pure Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
  17. ^ Renner, Ethan (December 15, 2023). "The Von Erichs added to ROH Final Battle lineup". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  18. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (December 13, 2023). "Vikingo To Defend AAA Mega Title Against Black Taurus At ROH Final Battle". Fightful. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  19. ^ Renner, Ethan (December 15, 2023). "Six-Man Tag Team title match set for ROH Final Battle". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  20. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (December 7, 2023). "Ethan Page vs. Tony Nese In An 'I Quit' Match Set For ROH Final Battle". Fightful. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  21. ^ Defelice, Robert (November 16, 2023). "6-Way Survival Of The Fittest To Crown New ROH World TV Champion Set For ROH Final Battle". Fightful. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  22. ^ Renner, Ethan (December 14, 2023). "Pure Championship match added to ROH Final Battle". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  23. ^ Steve C. (December 2, 2023). "Keith Lee vs. Shane Taylor Announced for ROH Final Battle 2023, Updated Card". tpww.net. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
  24. ^ Russell, Skylar (December 8, 2023). "Blackpool Combat Club vs. Mark Briscoe & FTR Set For ROH Final Battle". Fightful. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  25. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (November 30, 2023). "Billie Starkz Will Face Athena For ROH Women's World Title At ROH Final Battle". Fightful. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
  26. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (December 7, 2023). "Athena vs. Billie Starkz For ROH Women's Title To Main Event ROH Final Battle". Fightful. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
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