Ring Of Honor
Final Battle 2021: End Of An Era
December 11th, 2021 
Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena
Baltimore, Maryland

Watch: PPV, Honor Club, & FITE

Meet our reviewers:

Sean Sedor: If you thought that there was a chance that the guy who’s known as “Mr ROH” on this site was going to miss reviewing what might be the final ROH PPV ever, then you don’t know much about Sean. You can follow him on Twitter @SASedor2994. If you’re interested in some other stuff he does, you can check out his YouTube channel (just search his name) if you’d like to see him play the Formula 1 game, and you can also check out his Extreme Warfare Revenge thread on the Be The Booker forums (if you’re into those kinds of games).

Kelly Harrass: The Era of Honor is ending and Kelly had to be here to see off the company that saved his wrestling fandom in the mid 00’s. Follow Kelly on Twitter @comicgeekelly and listen to him on the Panels on Pages PoP!-Cast and VOW’s own Jumping Bomb Audio. 

Jeri Evagood: The Magic Writing Girl is here for what could possibly be the final ROH show. She actually doesn’t know anything that’s going on. She hasn’t watched ROH in a long time. She’s kind of just jumping in at the last second. She just knows this could be it, the end, the finale, that nothing more may follow after this. She was also bribed with tacos and hard ciders. Fair trade. You can follow her at @TheJerriest_Jer for the most lukewarm takes possible, but at least she’s cute and can get away with it. 

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship: The Righteous (Vincent, Bateman, & Dutch with Via VonStarr) def. Shane Taylor Promotions (O’Shay Edwards, Kaun, & Moses) (c)

Sean: Shane Taylor Promotions is using the Freebird Rule here, with O’Shay Edwards stepping in for the group’s namesake, who’s wrestling Kenny King later in the night. We got a big man exchange early between Dutch and Moses from SOS before things broke down a little bit. They were able to get things back in the ring, and there was some solid action from all six guys before a series of dives that culminated with Dutch hitting a big dive on STP. There was a moment when STP got a nearfall that was so close that it fooled the timekeeper, who rang the bell, but Todd Sinclair was right on the ball, and made it very clear that it was a two count. Vincent ultimately got the win a short time later, as The Righteous win the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Titles. A nice full circle moment for Vincent, who was part of the inaugural trio that won the belts (with Matt Taven and TK O’Ryan). A really solid match that was packed with action from start to finish. The crowd was into it, and aside from that one flub with the timekeeper, it was enjoyable. ***1/2 

Kelly: The show opened with an action packed match giving us a title change. If this is an indication of the way the show will go, I’m excited for the rest of tonight. Everyone seemed fired up and ready to put on a good show. Being the final holders of a championship is a big honor and these two teams fought like that was the case. Hopefully these units pop up somewhere else after tonight. ***¼ 

Jeri:  First impression? one team looks like the Devil Rejects Rejects, the other team I think could kick anyone’s ass period just by sheer presence alone. My partial snark aside, this was quite fun for an opener. STP got such a near fall at one point the timekeeper rang the bell by mistake. They kept things going, and never let there be any slow or down time which  makes these types of matches work. I felt like both teams were treating the championship as important and that winning meant something, which added to the action. We had a good crowd which hopefully can keep up throughout the night. I really enjoyed this, not bad for going in cold and blind. ***1/4

The Allure (Angelina Love & Mandy Leon) & Miranda Alize def. Chelsea Green & NWA Women’s Tag Team Champions The Hex (Allysin Kay & Marti Belle)

Sean: The Hex came out with both the NWA Women’s Tag Team Titles and the SHINE Tag Team Titles, so some WWN representation here (yes, WWN still exists). The babyface side had the early advantage until Angelina Love tripped Chelsea Green. The heel side then worked over Green until she was able to make the hot tag to Allysin Kay. After things break down, we get some cool dives from Alize and Green before Mandy Leon pins Marti Belle with a very sloppy looking Astral Projection. Not surprised that Leon got the pin here, since she’s the longest tenured roster member in this match (crazy, right?). An ok match, but not much else. I do hope that Alize gets picked up by another promotion. **1/4 

Kelly: Normally I’m not a huge fan of having matches like this where the clear reason is just to get everyone on the card, but a show like this needs this kind of match. The people that stood with the company deserve a spot on the final show. Look, this wasn’t very good, but it was nice that it happened. ** 

Jeri: I know we are only two matches in, but it seems given the circumstances everyone seems to be trying to put a little extra pep in their step so far. Not saying everything looked great, but everyone is clearly trying to the best of their abilities. That said, and with me being very nice the first few sentences, this wasn’t very good despite the effort being put into it. I give them all the credit for trying, but I did say “To the best of their abilities” and some of the talent in this match are quite a few steps behind the others. Finish was sloppy. I almost want to give a lady’s *** for trying, but I can’t. **1/4

The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brian Milonas), World Famous CB, Flip Gordon, & PJ Black def. LSG, Demonic Flamita, Will Ferrara, Sledge, & Max The Impaler w/ Amy Rose

Sean: So this was basically a collection of guys who weren’t booked on the main show, including Max The Impaler, as well as the injured Danhausen, who’s on commentary with Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman. A tad disappointing considering this was billed as a mystery tag (which inherently makes you think of potential surprises), but it’s nice to see that the company is making sure to give everyone on the roster one final payday. We get some fun exchanges early, first from CB and Ferrara (two guys who’ve been with the company for years), then from Demonic Flamita and Gordon. From there, it didn’t take long for things to break down, as bodies were flying all over the place. This was basically the “everybody gets their shit in” match, but eventually, PJ Black and Flip Gordon get the win for their side with a Doomsday Destroyer. A wild spotfest match that was fun while it lasted. ***1/2 

Kelly: This one started off with a really cool moment between CB and Ferrara. Those two guys have been such stalwarts with the company for so many years that they deserved that moment. I enjoyed getting to see Max the Impaler mix it up with everyone else. The undercard guys put on a frantically paced match to close out the first hour. *** 

Jeri: Ah, leftovers! That may seem like an insult, but as anyone knows, leftovers rule. Besides, Max The Impaler comes out and I’ve heard they are known to wreck shit. I like watching shit get wrecked. They definitely stand out, that’s for freaking sure. Look, I know he’s popular, but Danhausen’s commentary distracts the heck out of me. I think it’s the Voicehausen (ARGGHHHHH). Flip Gordon gets at least one flip in this match, which means he’s allowed to keep his name. Max The Impaler made sure to make me an instant fan of them and I’d love for them to come visit me one day and beat the hell out of people who misgender me. Everyone gets to do something in this match, and PJ Black and Flippity Doo Dah Gordon win the match with a Doomsday Destroyer which looked vicious. Fun stuff, I was entertained. You see, leftovers rule. Sometimes they prove to be the best way to enjoy something! Everyone put in some damn good effort. ***1/2

Dragon Lee def. Rey Horus 

Sean: These two had a great match for the ROH World TV Title in January in an empty arena, so I came into this hoping they could pull off another banger, but in front of fans. Horus came out wearing a cool skeleton jacket/track pants combo. Dragon Lee got the better of the opening exchange with a big dive to the floor. Lee would proceed to work over the back of Horus, though Horus would fight back and nail a dive to the floor of his own. From there, the two would go back-and-forth with some awesome offense. In the end, a series of Incineration Knee Strikes led to Lee getting the victory. This was a shade below their match in January, but it was still a very good match from start to finish. A good way to kick off the PPV proper. ***3/4 

Kelly: This match could have easily just been a crazy spotfest, but these two went out and gave us a pretty well put together match for the main show opener. The first half of the match focused mostly on attacks by Lee on Horus’ back. We did also get the big spots that you would expect from these two, but the backbone of the contest was the backbone(s) of Rey Horus. This was a hell of a way to kick off the main show. Part of ROH’s appeal in the early days was bringing together the best wrestlers from different styles and this was some of the best that lucha has to offer. **** 

Jeri: Now we are on to the main show. They hug it out to start causing me to go “awwww”. Been a long time since I watched Dragon Lee and with one big dive earlier in the match he reminds me how good he is, and by that I mean he’s awesome. Horus does not bore us though and he brings to my attention with a top rope dive of his own that he’s no slouch either. Both men just gel with each other. Fast pace stuff. But the kind of fast pace stuff that avoids feeling like it was overly choreographed. They hit some of their big hard hitting moves back and forth and both got some believable near falls. Dragon Lee would win the match in the end with his Incineration Knee Strikes, but the real winners are us for having this be the opener. Hard work, fast action, two guys who know each other very well and are able to click, get in sync, and put on a great match. ****

ROH World TV Championship: Rhett Titus def. Dalton Castle (c), Joe Hendry, & Silas Young

Sean: Dak Draper (who’s been associated with Dalton Castle lately) joined commentary for this one. Castle was showboating a lot at ringside early on while the other three were wrestling in the ring. Hendry showed off his power at points, though he eventually came to blows with his former tag team partner in Castle. At one point, the referee got knocked down, which allowed Hendry to nail Castle with the title belt. This led to Draper running down to take out Henry, but then he got taken out by Titus. Eventually, Titus managed to get the pin with his signature dropkick to secure the ROH World TV Title. A very cool moment for Titus, as while he’s held the tag team titles a few times, this is his first singles title in ROH. Unfortunately, the match itself wasn’t all that interesting. Again, Titus winning the title was cool, considering he’s been with the company since the golden era in the mid-2000’s, but there isn’t much else to say about this one. **3/4  

Kelly: What an awesome moment for Rhett Titus. That dude has been with ROH for so many years. I remember seeing him in the trainee matches when I first started following the company. He came up with guys like Bobby Dempsey, Mitch Franklin, Alex Payne, Pelle Primeau,  and Shane Hagadorn. Little did we know at the time that he would go on to surpass all those guys and stick with the company all these years. It makes me so happy for Rhett to see him hold the ROH TV Title as the final champion. He didn’t deserve it, he earned it. Along with that, it was fun to see the interactions between Silas (my hometown boy) and Dalton, calling back to their feud from a couple years back. Joe Hendry was there too. *** 

Jeri: Commentary tries to get me excited for Joe Henry .. .  . they didn’t succeed. I think Silas Young and Rhett Titus are who I enjoyed the most in this match, which is perhaps the only time I ever typed that about either man. Credit where credit is due though, they worked their asses off and looked great. I was more into them than anything Dalton or Joe Hendry did. Rhett Titus was the absolute right call for the winner and good on him for getting it for all his years of working for the company. Not always my cup of tea, but he is a cup of tea and someone out there enjoys him far more, and I hope they appreciated and enjoyed the hell out of watching him get this. Henry and Dalton Castle though, didn’t do much for me and brought things down a bit. I didn’t dislike this match though, but it’s definitely a step down from the opener. Lady’s ***

ROH Pure Championship: Josh Woods (c) def. Brian Johnson

Sean: While I don’t think Johnson will be picked up by a major company, he does have a fun heel act, and I’ll be interested to see if he ends up anywhere notable. Of course, Woods already worked a recent AEW Dark taping at Universal Studios, so we’ll see if he’s AEW bound. We started things off, and straight away, Woods forced Johnson to use two rope breaks straight away, but Johnson would soon fight back with a dive to the floor. Johnson would continue to be on the offensive, as he managed to hit a cutter from the apron to the floor, though Woods responded with some suplexes and tosses. Woods eventually forced Johnson to use his final rope break, but Johnson poked him in the eye while the referee wasn’t looking, and nearly won the match after hitting his finisher (Trust The Process). Johnson then used the title belt as a distraction so he could untie the turnbuckle, and that distraction led to a nearfall with brass knuckles. 

Woods then locked Johnson in a choke while sitting on the top rope, and since Johnson was out of rope breaks, he couldn’t use that to escape, and he passed out. Woods retains the Pure Title in what I thought was a really good match. They told a really good story with Johnson trying every dirty trick to get the win, but in the end, nothing could put Woods away. The crowd was into it (particularly the nearfalls with Johnson), and it was pretty enjoyable as a whole. Probably Johnson’s best match in ROH. ***3/4 

Kelly: This match ended the only way it really should have, a way unique to the Pure Title. I always loved watching those matches just because they brought something different to the card and this did very much the same. Brian Johnson came in playing the shithead you want to see lose and Josh Woods was the clean cut babyface that needs to hold up that title for the happy ending. Johnson cheated all the way to his loss, getting choked out with no way out because he used up all his rope breaks. Solid match that told a great story. ***½ 

Jeri: I’m watching Brian Johnson for the first time, what a mouth. . . .  I mean how he talks trash a lot. Brian Johnson proves to be an incredible bastard, eye pokes, brass knucks, using what short cuts he can to win a title that goes against everything he attempts to win. I can dig it. Woods makes Johnson use up all his rope breaks and that pays off in the end of the match by holding him in a choke while standing on the ropes and causing him to pass out. I rather liked that ending. Really good, the kind of good that snuck up on me. What that means is I wasn’t sure I was enjoying it at first, but as it approached the 8 minute mark they started to throw forearms and that’s when I realized . . yeah . .this is good. I enjoyed Johnson’s personality and just being an absolute dick while Woods did his best to respect what the title stood for and meant to represent, which made for a good story and some fun back and forth wrestling. That’s good stuff and I like it. ***½ 

Fight Without Honor: Shane Taylor def. Kenny King

Sean: So we go from a Pure Rules Match to a Fight Without Honor. Quite the difference in match styles. King came out wearing street clothes, so he’s ready for a fight. Chairs were introduced straight away, and we got a big spot early on involving tables, as King put Shane Taylor through a pair of tables on the floor with a blockbuster. Taylor would fight back with some kendo stick shots, a slam on a trash can, and then put King through a table on the floor with a big splash off the apron. Yet another table got broken in the ring as King put Taylor through one with a DVD for a nearfall. The two then took a number of minutes to set up some ladders, which led to King hitting a very anticlimactic splash onto Taylor, who was on a very low ladder bridge. They then slowly made their way to a ladder set up between the ring and the barricade, and Taylor hit a very scary package piledriver that saw them go straight to the floor.

A chair shot to the head (King did put his hands up) and a package piledriver on a chair would end up winning the match for Taylor. This was a brutal match with some pretty cool hardcore spots at points. These guys worked very hard, without question. However, it definitely felt long at points, and in certain spots, it seemed to take them forever to set stuff up. Still, the effort was definitely there, and this served as a very solid blowoff to the feud. Taylor offered King a STP jacket afterwards, and the two hugged. ***3/4 

Kelly: This match featured one of the scariest spots I’ve seen in a while when Shane Taylor spiked Kenny King head first on the ground when the ladder they were supposed to land on flipped. If you’re feeling sleepy, fire up that clip because it’ll wake you right back up. It was great to see the Fight Without Honor represented on this show. There have been tons of blood feuds in the company over the years that were blown off with this no rules match stipulation. King and Taylor had a lot to live up to and they worked hard to do just that. This was a really good and ambitious plunder brawl. Strong finish with a really nice moment in the post match. ***½ 

Jeri: A battle without honor or humanity is now upon us. I appreciate that King came out dressed as if he’s ready for a street fight. Okay, most street fights don’t involve Kendo sticks, but work with me here. At one point King hit one of the least impressive ladder splashes I have ever seen. At another, Shane hit one of the scarier piledrivers through a ladder I have ever seen. The ladder flipped and they went straight to the outside floor. Needless to say, perhaps not for the best reasons, I jumped off my couch and went “Holy Shit”. Well, they worked hard and took some stiff lumps for sure. It felt long though, and with the match featuring tables, ladders, chairs, kendo sticks, I found myself kind of twiddling my thumbs at times. It makes sense that the potential final card would get a fight without honor match on it, I respect that, but the match felt uneven and not every clicked with me at the end of it. All that said, they did work hard and had some good (and bad) ideas. The finish was brutal, and there was some good harsh stuff though. In the end I think most people will be satisfied with it.  Hmmmmm, it deserves a good rating, I will give it . . . .  ***½ 

ROH Women’s World Championship: Rok-C (c) def. Willow

Sean: While she’s only had one title defense on TV, Rok-C has been defending the ROH Women’s World Title across a variety of independent promotions since September. Early on, Willow not only showed off her power, but the fact that she had Rok-C scouted extremely well, as she countered much of Rok-C’s offense. Rok-C would manage to mount a comeback, but Willow (who was definitely the favorite of the crowd in this one) would still manage to counter some of her best moves. A big superplex and a moonsault from Willow only got a two count, and from there, Rok-C managed to recover. The first portion of this match was a little rough at points, but they definitely recovered down the stretch. It was interesting to listen to the crowd reactions, as they were clearly behind Willow. Rok-C even got booed after scoring the fall, so that was interesting. Deonna Purrazzo then came out after the match and challenged Rok-C to a winner-take-all match, which Rok-C appeared to accept. Though who knows when that will happen. I guess in Impact? ***1/4 

Kelly: Rok-C is incredibly good for her age and I normally think Willow is pretty good, but this match felt pretty rough to me. The chemistry between the two seemed off and it felt like they were a little thrown off from the crowd being as behind Willow as they were. The match was clearly built around Rok-C being the underdog and the crowd was not into that at all tonight. This was a disappointment, but I’m looking forward to whatever comes from the Deonna Purrazzo appearance in the post match. **½ 

Jeri: Seeing Willow always makes me smile. Something about her personality and presentation that always makes me feel positive. I appreciated that Willow came off being able to know what the champ was going to do at points and counter/block her offense. Shows wrestling smarts and intelligence to go along with the rest of her game. Rok-C would never be out of the fight and presented herself as the scrappy champion always finding a way to stay into things and come up with plan Bs and Cs if necessary. Crowd was INTO Willow, and so was I. She’s just so easy to root for and like. Willow hit her moonsault at one point and I sincerely thought she had it, but alas it was not meant to be and the Code-Rok would end the match and the crowd would not be pleased. Not the smoothest of matches at times, but there’s enough there to ultimately allow me to give it a thumbs up. I really REALLY wanted Willow to win (and so did the crowd) and I was disappointed when she didn’t, but that’s just because I’m a fangirl, and not because I have anything against Rok-C who is good and has so much time/room to improve and be so great. Overall I enjoyed the match. Rough at times, but I think they did enough to overcome it. After the match Purrazzo challenges Rok-C to winner take all. ***¼ 

Violence Unlimited (Brody King, Homicide, & Tony Deppen) & Rocky Romero w/ Chris Dickinson def. Tracy Williams, Eli Isom, Taylor Rust, & EC3

Sean: Homicide appears to be wearing the same (or a similar) Michael Myers jumpsuit that he wore during the ROH vs. CZW Cage Of Death from 2006, which was pretty cool. This was a pretty entertaining eight-man tag with some fun action throughout. The latter portion of the match featured a lot of callbacks, with Homicide busting out the fork, and moves like the Muscle Buster, the rebound Nigel McGuinness lariat, the Cattle Mutilation, and the El Generico Top Rope Brainbuster (just to name a few). Homicide managed to hit Da Cop Killa on Eli Isom for a great nearfall. Isom showed some fight late, but Brody King ultimately put him away with the Gonzo Bomb. This was a ton of fun to watch. Nostalgia can be very cool sometimes. There was an angle afterwards that involved EC3’s Control Your Narrative crew (which included Wesley Blake and the former Braun Strowman….yes, you read that right), which really felt out of place and WEIRD and dumb, but whatever. ***3/4 

Kelly: This match was dripping in history. As you can read above, Sean went through all the callbacks they threw into this match, most notably for me, Homicide’s jumpsuit. This throwback invokes the single greatest match and story in ROH; the war with CZW. While this match wasn’t able to match the insanity of the Cage of Death, they came as close as they could. I really loved this match and the energy it brought to the show, but whoa boy was it dragged down by the EC3 nonsense that followed. While this show is surely the end of the company, it feels weird that they’re running angles. I suppose it wouldn’t be an ROH PPV if there isn’t an angle that runs too long and makes the main event run low on time. ***¾ 

Jeri: Despite their name I’m going to give the take the Violence seems quite limited at times, and as soon as I type that Homicide brought out a fork to use on E3 so nevermind. Homicide heard me talking shit and decided to counterpoint me. I respect that. This was pretty fun stuff throughout the match and there were callbacks to classic finishers/submissions throughout ROH and that was a pretty cool thing to do and I was quite entertained by it. Made me smile quite a bit and nostalgia won the day. Can’t get away with that every match, but on the company’s potential last show ever, hell yes you can, and in fact, YOU SHOULD! AND YES WE GOT THE COP KILLA ON ELI ISOM!! AND IT DIDN’T END THE MATCH” which caught me off guard as I was sure that would end everything. It wouldn’t be much longer though as while Eli Isom tried to be defiant Brody would put him away with a Gonzo Bomb. Fun and action packed. I had a blast with this match, some bonus energy as we crossed 10 P.M Eastern. This in my opinion was an absolute winner. There was an angle after where the former Braun Strowman came out to do EC3’s control your narrative bidding and  . .I don’t know what to say. I didn’t care for any of it. Did nothing for me, but there you have it. Didn’t feel like it belong and brought down that energy I was so appreciative of.  ****

ROH World Tag Team Championship: The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe) def. The OGK (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) w/ Maria Kanellis (c)

Sean: Cary Silkin joined Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman on commentary, while The Briscoes had their entire family at ringside. You also had Maria Kanellis coming out with The OGK, so this has real 2014-2015 feels. The first big moment of the match saw The Briscoes pull Mike Bennett in the way of a Matt Taven dive attempt. The Briscoes managed to gain the edge momentarily, but Bennett and Taven quickly regained control. The two teams would continue to go back and forth as Jay Briscoe got busted open at some point during the exchanges. Taven nailed a big assisted splash from the top rope to the floor in a wild moment. Mark nearly had the match won with a Froggy Bow, but Maria pulled the referee. This led to Maria getting speared accidentally by Bennett, but The OGK got some payback shortly afterwards with a Diving Doomsday Device (a callback to their big match from Atlanta in 2015). The OGK hit numerous finishers on Mark, but they somehow managed to survive. A Jay Driller on both Bennett and Taven led to another very close nearfall. Taven somehow survived a Doomsday Device, and a Jay Driller/Froggy Bow combo finally sealed the deal. The Briscoes won the ROH World Tag Team Titles for the 12th time. 

This was an absolutely insane match with the exact finish that we should’ve gotten. These two teams worked their asses off, and their efforts resulted in a bout that was simply amazing. The Briscoes then called out any tag team on the planet after the fact, and FTR showed up, leading to a big pull-apart brawl. Surely this would mean that The Briscoes are AEW bound, but I guess we’ll see what happens. ****1/2 

Kelly: Barring the Young Bucks making a return to ROH for one night, this was the ideal Tag Title match that you could have put together for tonight. These are two teams that will always be tied to ROH for me. The Briscoes are ROH. The Kingdom are the second half of the company’s history. This was a clash of eras and it was everything I hoped for. These two teams went all out tonight. It had all the nearfalls you would want a big time ROH Tag Title match to have. Taven and Bennett don’t get the credit for being as good as they are and after tonight I hope that everyone that watched saw it. The heat in the post match that FTR got reminded me of Final Battle 2007 when Age of the Fall beat the Briscoes for the Tag Titles in the main event. Please excuse me for being nostalgic tonight, there’s just so much history in this company and it’s all racing through my mind. All that being said, this was one hell of a semi-main event. ****½ 

Jeri: I have my share of Briscoe opinions, for the sake of this review I’ll keep them to myself. I will say they are so connected to ROH they are one of the first things I think of when you bring up the company.  Mary Kate gets a shout out as one of the original photographers, and that was quite nice. Lots of back and forth in this one. They kept things going throughout the match and allowed for very little down time, which helped things flow and move nicely. At one point Taven hit a big assisted splash from the top to the floor and he hit it quite hard. The Briscoes have put together their tag team act for a real long time so you know what you’re going to get, and the majority of the time it works, and it worked tonight. At one point Maria got involved and Bennet accidentally spears her. Moments later The OGK hit a brutal looking Diving Doomsday Device which got a holy shit out of me. EVERYTHING got thrown at the Briscoes but they couldn’t finish them off. Mary Kate (the original photographer) was getting into it at ringside. . .  and so was the rest of the crowd. The Briscoes would hit Taven with everything they could think of and get the victory in an absolutely insane tag match. Briscoes winning the tag titles once more was probably the appropriate call to make, and the crowd was all about it. Neither team will be able to sit down properly as they worked their asses off. Yeah, I have feelings on the Briscoes, but strictly speaking about the match . . . this was the good shit. Briscoes call out any tag team, and the team we get is…….FTR. Some of you will be more excited and I’m happy for you (genuinely) .  .not who I wanted them to go with. That said it was well executed and the crowd was into it. So you know, it was a success.   ****½ 

ROH World Championship: Jonathan Gresham def. Jay Lethal

Sean: Lethal came out to the theme that he used during his main heel run in 2014 and 2015. As we learned earlier in the night, this will be for the ROH World Title, and they’re using the old ROH World Title belt, which is very cool. The two exchanged quick wrist locks right out of the gate, and Gresham would gain the early advantage as he worked on Lethal’s arm. The former ROH World Champion managed to fight back with a pair of dropkicks and his signature dive to the floor. Lethal then nailed Gresham with a big shot, and appeared to be on the verge of taking control, but Gresham continued to use his technical wrestling skills to stay in the fight. Gresham managed to stop Lethal’s Hail To The King elbow drop, and that led to an incredible exchange of pins. Lethal followed up with a rolling Torture Rack Slam…..thing, and the Hail To The King, though Gresham once again managed to survive. A crossface-chickenwing attempt was reversed into a cutter as the entire locker room came out to ringside. Gresham nailed a series of forearms, but Lethal wouldn’t stay down. A series of pin attempts then led to an Octopus Stretch, and Lethal tapped out!!

Jonathan Gresham wins the ROH World Title, and is immediately greeted by Jordynne Grace and the rest of The Foundation. It wasn’t really their best match, and it wasn’t the match of the night, but it was a very strong match between two familiar opponents. While my only wish was that they could’ve gotten more time (and I’m almost certain some things earlier in the night were either unnecessary or ran long), this is far from the first time that a ROH PPV main event got cut short (this is something that goes back years). Again, Gresham closing the show as the final ROH World Champion was absolutely the right call, as the man who resurrected the Pure Title and the Pure Division finally achieved his mission of capturing the ROH World Title. It was an awesome feel-good moment to end the PPV. We did get a little tease at the very end for the return in April 2022…..though I don’t think the chances of that actually happening are very high. If this is the end, I’m satisfied, even though I will miss ROH forever. ****

Kelly: The second it was announced that Bandido wouldn’t be able to wrestle on this show, I knew they had to call Lethal for this match. Jay Lethal is the face of the modern era of Ring of Honor. If Jonathan Gresham was going to win the title, there wasn’t anyone better for him to beat than Lethal. These two have such a history together as both opponents and partners. Their Iron Man match is one of my favorite matches of the modern ROH. Gresham is just so damn good, his style fuses together the past and present of ROH in a way that makes him unlike anyone else on the roster. If he’s the final face of ROH, he’s a good one to end on. As they were going down the closing stretch of the match, the roster emptied out of the back and surrounded the ring, really making this feel like a huge moment. If this is to be the final match in ROH history, the Final Battle, if you will, it’s wonderful that everyone got to be a part of it. I’m not going to get my hopes up for April 2022. I’m telling myself that this is the end and I am content with this finale. Jonathan Gresham standing in the ring with the original ROH World Title, surrounded by his wife and friends. The man who brought Pure Wrestling back to ROH closes this chapter of wrestling history as the champion. That’s a happy ending if I’ve ever heard one. Goodbye, Ring of Honor. Thank you for everything. ****¼ 

Jeri: Before the main event happens, shout out to Sean and Kelly who clearly know more about ROH than I do (by far) and have been doing a great job tonight pointing out callbacks and historical notes. Okay, onto the match. I loved how they were competing for the original title, and I almost loved just as much Gresham’s octopus mask. Gresham is so freaking good. I don’t think we actually have gotten to the point where we quite appreciate this man’s talent. He just gets it, the technical, the small things, the presence and charisma aspects. Lethal is a Pro and knows what to do and when to do it in the ring. Needless to say the technical portions in this match are on point, and they both get excellent moments of control and advantage against each other. As the match goes on the entire locker room comes out to cheer them on as they throw forearms at each other which is a cool moment and both men seemed more fired up by that. I loved that they made sure to sell the damaged portions of their body and it would affect their offense and movement at times. Crowd got more fired up as the match got toward the end and in the most satisfying conclusion Gresham won the ROH title. I’m so glad Gresham got his title victory, even if it’s on the potential final show of the company’s history. It feels right. I have a lot I could say about Lethal, I’ll be honest I have a lot I WANT to say about Lethal, but I can save that for my own time and not a joint review. This was a good match, not the match of the night but good, and Gresham’s win felt hard fought and well earned. A satisfying ending to what could be the last show of Ring Of Honor, although the month of April 2022 did pop up on the screen. We’ll see I guess? I’m not holding my breath personally. I felt this was the end, and it ended well. Sometimes, just let things end well. Too many things don’t know how to end well. End of This Review, End Of An Era,  End of Ring of Honor. The End. ****