ROH Final Battle 2022 is coming up this Saturday afternoon and before the event takes place, let’s run down everything you need to know about the upcoming pay-per-view.
Who is scheduled for the card? How interesting does the show seem? What’s going to happen with all the matches?
Here is a full preview of Ring of Honor Final Battle 2022.
PPV EVENT INFORMATION
Date: Saturday, December 10, 2022
Start Time: 3 p.m. ET (kickoff), 4 p.m. ET (main show)
Location: College Park Center at the University of Texas-Arlington in Arlington, Texas
MATCH CARD, PREDICTIONS & HEAT INDEX ANTICIPATION LEVELS
(as currently advertised; card is always subject to change)
Temperature Scale = Scorching > Hot > Lukewarm > Temperate > Chilly > Cold > Freezing
Heat Index is my assessment of how interesting the segment is, including how excited I am for the match and how intriguing the feud has been. The hotter, the better. Scorching translates to not being able to wait to see it, while Freezing means I couldn’t possibly care less and think it will be awful.
ROH CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Chris Jericho (c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli
Heat Index = Lukewarm
Prediction: Chris Jericho wins.
Thoughts: If Castagnoli loses this match, he has to join The Jericho Appreciation Society. Considering Blackpool Combat Club might as well not even be a thing anymore, after Bryan Danielson’s issues with Wheeler Yuta, William Regal exiting and so on, Claudio might as well join that group. Plus, I can’t see the reasoning behind taking the belt off Castagnoli, putting it on Jericho, then just going back to Castagnoli. If the best you can come up with is “guy loses belt and we wait a while before he gets it back so it eats up a few months”, that’s some lazy storytelling. Frankly, I’m disappointed there isn’t something more interesting going on here. I’d have gone with building to Jericho against Samoa Joe. This match will be good, if not great, considering the two involved, but the creative behind it leaves me wanting more.
ROH PURE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Daniel Garcia (c) vs. Wheeler Yuta
Heat Index = Temperate
Prediction: Daniel Garcia wins.
Thoughts: Again, all you could think of after all these months was to run this back again? We’ve seen these two guys go at it multiple times. Yes, they’ve had good matches. But if I wanted to see another rerun, I’d just watch the first two. Garcia against Jericho could have been another good angle for this event. Instead, I guess it’s either “revert back to Yuta because we don’t know what else to do” or “Yuta loses again because we don’t have anyone else in mind to fight Garcia.” I’ll go with the latter.
ROH WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Mercedes Martinez (c) vs. Athena
Heat Index = Lukewarm
Prediction: Athena wins.
Thoughts: Since I don’t think either the ROH World Championship or ROH Pure Championship will change hands, the women’s title has me intrigued. Athena is exactly the type of person I could see being in both scenarios. Either she’s “good enough” of a name to just fight Martinez without needing any explanation, and people will be interested, see Martinez retain and be over it. Or, she’s a big enough name that Tony Khan wants to have her win the title, and Martinez has held it long enough. I’m starting to convince myself more of the latter.
ROH WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Samoa Joe (c) vs. Juice Robinson
Heat Index = Hot
Prediction: Juice Robinson wins.
Thoughts: Wardlow interferes and costs Samoa Joe his title, right? Robinson signs to AEW/ROH and is immediately given a title and put in a semi-prominent position without stepping on any toes of anyone in the AEW family. Joe continues on with a title, holding the TNT Championship. Yup. This sounds about right.
TAG TEAM MATCH:
Swerve in Our Glory (Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland) vs. JD Griffey and Shane Taylor
Heat Index = Cold
Prediction: Swerve in Our Glory wins.
Thoughts: I have no idea who Shane Taylor, nor JD Griffey are. Sorry. Since this has zero build from my knowledge, is featuring two guys who I’ve never heard of, and they’re up against a team that has wanted to split since they first got together, but seems to be in a holding pattern with TK not wanting to pull the trigger on that, with no belts on the line or any story to latch onto here, what am I supposed to be all hyped about? The only thing keeping this from Freezing is because I don’t know Taylor or Griffey, so maybe one of them will surprise me. That unknown element is all this has going for it, and I say that as someone who constantly talks about how Keith Lee is awesome.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP DOUBLE DOG COLLAR MATCH:
FTR (c) vs. The Briscoes
Heat Index = Lukewarm
Prediction: FTR wins.
Thoughts: Cool. But does this event have to have three “run it back” scenarios on it? At least there’s a gimmick attached. That will certainly help it not feel like it’s entirely the same match on a rerun. Yes, it’ll be fun. That’s saving it from being Temperate or lower. As far as the winners go, I could imagine a scenario where The Briscoes win the titles, but I’ll stick with FTR. Maybe I’m putting too much weight on the wrong thing, but I’d like to think Tony Khan wants FTR to walk out at Wrestle Kingdom holding the ROH tag titles for some promotion that way.
ROH WORLD SIX-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Dalton Castle and The Boys (c) vs. The Embassy
Heat Index = Cold
Prediction: The Embassy wins.
Thoughts: Dalton Castle and The Boys aren’t confirmed to have been signed, as far as I’m aware. The Embassy, on the other hand, are. Plus, they’ve got the size advantage. This should be cut and dry. And since I have no attachment to anything going on, I ultimately don’t care, if I’m being honest. This will just be a match that eats up some time. But hey…title change?
OVERALL PPV:
How excited am I for the event as a whole?
Heat Index = Temperate
Thoughts: This is one of those events that I wouldn’t bother watching if it wasn’t my job. That sounds harsh, but I highly doubt anything will happen that I’ll consider “can’t-miss” and “must-see”. But I’m not a 100% hardcore obsessed wrestling fan who “can’t get enough” of the content. Those types are probably salivating for this, and I hope they have a great time watching it. I’ll be checking it out and doing live coverage, but I’ll probably be struggling to pay attention to a few matches that I don’t have much hype for.
What do you think is going to happen at ROH Final Battle? Which matches are you most excited to see? Keep the discussion going in the comments below!
