The 2024 Final Battle was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

live streaming Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming media, streaming of video or Digital audio, audio in real-time communication, real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as ''streaming'', the real-time nature ...

event produced by American promotion

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011; the promotion was subs ...

(ROH). It was the 23rd Final Battle event and took place on December 20, 2024, at the

Hammerstein Ballroom The Hammerstein Ballroom is a ballroom located within the Manhattan Center at 311 West 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The capacity of the ballroom is dependent on the configuration of the room; it seats 2,000 people for theat ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. The event aired exclusively on ROH's streaming service, Honor Club. Thirteen matches were contested at the event, including four on the Zero Hour pre-show. In the event's final match, which was promoted as part of a double main event,

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

defeated Billie Starkz to retain the ROH Women's World Championship. In the other main event,

Chris Jericho Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler, rock musician, and actor. As a wrestler, he has been signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) , where he ...

defeated

Matt Cardona Matthew Brett Cardona (born May 14, 1985) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is a freelancer who competes on the independent circuit as well as making in ring appearances for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Al ...

to retain the

ROH World Championship The ROH World Championship is a professional wrestling Championship (professional wrestling)#World championships, world championship created and promoted by Ring of Honor (ROH). It is considered the most prestigious title in the promotion. The cu ...

. In other prominent matches,

Komander Komander (born December 15, 1998) is a Mexican '' luchador enmascarado'' ( masked professional wrestler). He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is one-half of ''Los Titanes del Aire'' with Hologram. He also wrestles for AEW's siste ...

defeated

Brian Cage Brian Christopher Joseph ButtonWillie Mack Willie McClinton Jr. (born January 5, 1987) is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Willie Mack, currently appearing in Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, Juggalo Championship Wrestling, All Elite Wrestling, Major League Wres ...

, Mark Davis,

AR Fox Thomas James Ballester (born September 5, 1987), better known by his ring name AR Fox, is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a former member of Mogul Embassy. He also ...

and Blake Christian in a Survival of the Fittest match to become the new

ROH World Television Champion The ROH World Television Championship is a professional wrestling Championship (professional wrestling)#Gimmick/style championships, world television championship in the Ring of Honor (ROH) professional wrestling promotion, promotion. With the int ...

, Sons of Texas (

Sammy Guevara Samuel Guevara (born July 28, 1993) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of The Sons of Texas and is a record tying three-time former AEW TNT Champion. He also appears in AEW's sist ...

and

Dustin Rhodes Dustin Patrick Runnels (born April 11, 1969) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Dustin Rhodes, with a nickname of "The Natural" and is a member of The Sons of ...

) defeated The Righteous (

Vincent Vincent (Latin: ''Vincentius'') is a masculine given name originating from the Roman name ''Vincentius'', which itself comes from the Latin verb ''vincere'', meaning "to conquer." People with the given name Artists *Vincent Apap (1909–2003) ...

and

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

) in a Texas Bullrope match to retain the

ROH World Tag Team Championship The ROH World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling World Tag Team Championship, world tag team championship contested for in the United States, American professional wrestling promotion Ring of Honor (ROH). The current champions are D ...

, Lee Moriarty defeated Nigel McGuiness to retain the

ROH Pure Championship The ROH Pure Championship is a professional wrestling championship contested for in the American professional wrestling promotion Ring of Honor (ROH). The reigning champion is Lee Moriarty in his first reign. History The title was originally ...

, and

Jay Lethal Jamar Shipman (born April 29, 1985), better known by the ring name Jay Lethal, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is best known for his tenures in Ring of Honor (ROH), Total Nonstop Action Wrest ...

defeated QT Marshall. The event marked the ROH returns of Danhausen, Nigel McGuiness, and Bandido.

Production

Background

Final Battle is a

event produced by Ring of Honor. First held in 2002, it is traditionally ROH's last show in the calendar year. It is widely regarded as Ring of Honor's premiere flagship event, similar to

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

's WrestleMania. On November 19, 2024, ROH announced that the 2024 Final Battle would be held at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on December 20, and would air exclusively on Honor Club. Once a yearly tradition, this was the first Final Battle event to take place at the Hammerstein Ballroom since Final Battle 2018.

Storylines

The event featured

professional wrestling matches Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...

that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed

villains A villain (also known as a " black hat", "bad guy" or "baddy"; The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.126 "baddy (also baddie) noun (pl. -ies) ''informal'' a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.". the feminine form is villai ...

heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Storylines were 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 All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. It is owned and operated by Shahid Khan, Shahid and Tony Khan, with the latter serving as President (corporate title), president an ...

including ''

Dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...

'', '' Rampage'', and ''

Collision In physics, a collision is any event in which two or more bodies exert forces on each other in a relatively short time. Although the most common use of the word ''collision'' refers to incidents in which two or more objects collide with great for ...

'', and via promotional videos on both the ROH and

AEW All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. It is owned and operated by Shahid and Tony Khan, with the latter serving as president and chief executive officer. AEW was foun ...

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channels. On the December 5 episode of ''ROH Wrestling'', ROH World Champion

hosted his talk show segment, "TV Time with The Learning Tree," for the first time on ROH to discuss his upcoming title defense at Final Battle. He would dare anyone from

to step up, to which

would then make a surprise appearance and accept Jericho's challenge for the title at Final Battle. On the November 14 ''ROH Wrestling'', after

ROH World Tag Team Champions The ROH World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship owned by the Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion; it is contested for in their tag team division. The championship was created and debuted on September 21, 2 ...

The Sons of Texas (

and

) competed in a match, they were suddenly ambushed by The Righteous (

and

), who wielded a bull rope with an attached cowbell. Later in the night, after The Righteous won their match, they cut a promo, declaring they should've been champions long ago and that attacking the champions would force them to get an opportunity. As they are meant to do, they also made their situation with the champions personal; Dutch specifically targeted Rhodes as he recounted training with his father

Dusty Rhodes Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. (October 11, 1945 – June 11, 2015), better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, booker, and trainer who worked for the National Wrestling Alliance ...

who Dutch claimed saw more in him than he did Dustin, which is how he came to possess the bull rope. The Righteous continued the mind games over the next few weeks. Soon, on the December 5 ''ROH Wrestling'', it was announced that The Sons of Texas would face The Righteous in a Texas Bullrope match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship at Final Battle. On the December 5 episode of ''ROH Wrestling'',

appeared in a backstage segment where he was planning a return to ROH one and a half years after his last appearance at Death Before Dishonor in 2022. He and his associates (

Sonjay Dutt Retesh Bhalla (born April 7, 1982) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a Glossary of professional wrestling terms#agent, producer and Glossary of professional wrestling terms#manage ...

Satnam Singh Satnam Singh Bhamara (born 10 December 1995) is an Indian professional wrestler and former professional basketball player. As a wrestler, he is signed to the American professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He became the fir ...

Jeff Jarrett Jeffrey Leonard Jarrett (born July 14, 1967) is an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling promoter. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he both wrestles and serves as Director of Business Development. He is also ...

, and

Karen Jarrett Karen Jarrett (' Smedley and formerly Angle, born October 12, 1972) is an American professional wrestling Valet (wrestling), valet and personality appearing for All Elite Wrestling (AEW). She is the former wife of professional wrestler and Olym ...

) were then met by Q. T. Marshall, who offered to be Lethal's return opponent, but was shot down as Lethal wanted to wrestle a "bigger name." The following week, Lethal met with ROH Board of Directors member

Paul Wight Paul Donald Wight II (born February 8, 1972) is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under his real name of Paul Wight. He is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) f ...

to discuss his ROH return match only for a furious Marshall to interrupt, leading to a physical altercation. Wight would intervene and decide it would be best that the two would settle differences in the ring, with the match being made official for Final Battle. At the previous year's Final Battle,

retained the ROH Women's World Championship against Billie Starkz, the latter's performance getting her back in the former's good graces as her "minion". Starkz would then take to Athena's more underhanded tactics as she and fellow minion, backstage interviewer Lexy Nair, assisted Athena in retaining her title at Death Before Dishonor of 2024. A pay-per-view prior Starkz became the inaugural ROH World Women's Television Champion at Supercard of Honor. However, after Starkz lost the television title to Red Velvet at Death Before Dishonor of 2024, the dynamic between Athena, Starkz, and Nair reverted to Athena favoring Nair and looking down on Starkz. On the October 24 ''ROH Wrestling'', Athena celebrated becoming the longest-reigning champion of any kind in ROH history, where she again praised Nair and berated Starkz for perceived poor party planning, causing Starkz to walk out on the pair. Over a month later on December 12, Athena and Starkz competed in a four-way qualifier for the International Women’s Cup at Wrestle Dynasty, also involving Velvet and

Leyla Hirsch Leyla Hirsch (; born September 27, 1996) is a Russian-born American professional wrestler. She is best known for her tenure in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and its sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH). Before joining AEW in 2020, Hirsh was active on ...

. Initially, Athena demanded Starkz lay down for her, but when that didn't happen, Athena would steal a pin on Velvet from Starkz to win. Afterwards, Athena proclaimed she would skip Final Battle in preparation for Wrestle Dynasty, but a frustrated Starkz, tired of Athena's abuse, challenged her to a rematch for the ROH Women's World Championship at Final Battle. Athena accepted and the match was later made official.

Results

ROH World Television Championship Survival of the Fittest match

References

External links

* {{Ring of Honor, Final Battle 2024 in New York City 2024 in professional wrestling 2024 Ring of Honor pay-per-view events December 2024 in the United States Professional wrestling shows in New York City Ring of Honor pay-per-view and livestreaming events

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...