Ring of Honor (ROH) presents Final Battle 2023, the final show of 2023 for the Tony Khan-owned promotion. The main event will see Athena take on her former minion Billie Starkz with the ROH Women’s Championship on the line. We will also see a multi-man match for the vacant ROH World Television Championship, a Fight Without Honor in honor of Jay Briscoe, an I Quit match, and much more. The card will begin at 7 pm central time and will be available exclusively on Honor Club. Let’s see what ROH Final Battle 2023 has in store for us.
ROH Final Battle 2023: Full Card
- The Von Erichs (Marshall and Ross Von Erich) (with Kevin Von Erich) vs. The Outrunners (Turbo Floyd and Truth Magnum) (zero hour)
- Keith Lee vs. Shane Taylor
- I Quit Match: Ethan Page vs. Tony Nese
- Jay Briscoe Memorial Fight Without Honor: FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) and Mark Briscoe vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, and Claudio Castagnoli)
- Survival of the Fittest Finals for the vacant ROH World Television Championship: Dalton Castle vs. Komander vs. Kyle Fletcher vs. Lee Johnson vs. Lee Moriarty
- ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship: The Mogul Embassy (Brian Cage, Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona) (c) (with Prince Nana) vs. TMDK (Shane Haste, Kosei Fujita and Bad Dude Tito)
- AAA Mega Championship Match: El Hijo del Vikingo (c) vs. Black Taurus
- ROH Pure Championship Match: Wheeler Yuta (c) vs. Tom Lawlor
- ROH Women’s World Championship Match: Athena (c) vs. Billie Starkz
Fight Without Honor
Tragedy struck earlier in 2023 as the wrestling world lost Jay Briscoe in a car accident. Part of the legendary tag team the Briscoe Brothers alongside his brother Mark Briscoe, one of their best-known rivalries is the trilogy of matches they had against FTR. The last match between the two tag teams was a Dog Collar match at Final Battle 2022 in a match that pushed all four competitors to their limits. Fellow Ring of Honor legend, Bryan Danielson recalled that way back at Final Battle 2003, he faced Jay Briscoe in a singles match.
Danielson laid out a challenge to Briscoe for the Blackpool Combat Club (Danielson, Jon Moxley, and Claudio Castagnoli) for Final Battle 2023. The challenge was accepted and now Mark Briscoe teams with the final rivals he had with his brother to take on a dangerous trio. Moxley is known for his hardcore style but both Danielson and Castagnoli can brawl with the best of them.
Although FTR is known for being an old-school technical tag team, they have proved they can be extreme. The Briscoe Brothers were also no strangers to hardcore style matches with plenty of brawls in their career. Both teams have great chemistry within the trios. This match could go either way but fans better buckle up for an intense and all-out brawl on Friday, December 12th.
Teacher vs. Apprentice
The main event of ROH Final Battle 2023 will be for the ROH Women’s World Championship. Athena has held the title since the 2022 Final Battle where she defeated Mercedes Martinez. Since winning the championship she took both Billie Starkz and Lexi Nair under her wing, making them her minions. Following the arrival of Ronda Rousey to ROH, things started to go wrong for Athena with one of her students.
Starkz and Athena teamed together in a losing effort against Rousey and her long-time friend Marina Shafir. The following week on ROH television, Starkz got payback by defeating Shafir in a one-on-one match. To add insult to injury, Starkz beat down Shafir after the match. Athena and Nair came to ringside announcing that Starkz had graduated, only to reveal it was a rouse and Nair had actually been named “valedictorian”. An upset Starkz demanded a match against Athena, which was granted for Final Battle.
Starkz is young but has shown promise long before her ROH career began. Now she has a chance to win the biggest match of her career against the veteran Athena. Will the upstart get the upset win? Or will the veteran walk away with another win in her historic title reign? We will find out at ROH Final Battle 2023.
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