Ring of Honor (ROH) wrestling stars clashed at the iconic Hammerstein Ballroom at Manhattan Center on Friday night during Final Battle in front of hundreds of New York fans.
Wrestling fans packed into the venue at 311 West 34th St. to witness the company’s last pay-per-view event of the year. Ring of Honor has taken a new lease on life after promoter Tony Khan purchased the promotion and brought into the AEW family — along with new and old stars.
The stacked card pitted ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty against a returning Nigel McGuinness. The crowd erupted in uncontrolled cheers when the English native was unveiled as a surprise challenger for the belt. The match saw the experienced McGuinness show off his athleticism in opposition to Moriarty’s young, brash style. Although Moriarty was in a fight for his title, even he admitted that he was overwhelmed to battle a legend in the company’s history.
“It never crossed my mind that I would be wrestling him. And that was such a cool moment, hearing his music and seeing him walk out, I couldn’t contain my excitement,” Moriarty said during the post-show press conference. “Now I get to be in the same venue and do a pure rules match against someone I looked up to, and that style of wrestling — there’s just no way I can put into words how much that means to me because these are things I’ve worked for so long.”
Moriarty managed to overcome his idol and retain his championship. This was followed by an epic battle between another wrestling legend and current ROH Champion Chris Jericho against the king of the independent scene, Matt Cardona.
Jericho both stunned and outraged fans by entering the squared circle to Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” alongside a chorus line of dancers in order to successfully draw the ire of natives. The Fozzy frontman even compared himself to former Mayor Bill de Blasio at one point.
“He’s the king of New York. So, what better way for him to come to the ring for his championship match than New York, New York, and I thought it would be something special. It came out great,” AEW and ROH owner Tony Khan said. “Since we all woke up in a city that never sleeps, we wanted to play that song, and it was a great moment, and something special for Final Battle.”
Cardona and Jericho engaged in a back-and-forth bout that saw the champion retain after his cohorts got involved with several incidents of interference. However, Mexican masked wrestler Bandido made a run in to save Cardona from a beatdown.
The night was capped off with a female main event that featured ROH Women’s Champion Athena take on friend turned bitter rival Billie Starkz. The match encompassed raw emotion and some incredible performances by both women, with Starkz appearing to take the victory during multiple key moments that took the air right out of fans’ lungs. Still, it wasn’t to be and Athena continued her historic reign.
Following the victory, Athena commented on the women’s main-eventing Final Battle and her personal continued work to take herself to the next level.
“I get half a day off, and then I’m in the ring for three days, a week, just to hop on a plane to come back. I am extremely dedicated, I’m always trying to find the next thing, the next new thing being creative, being unpredictable. And I know so many women are doing the same thing,” Athena said. “It’s really an amazing time just for women’s wrestling across the board.”
Ring of Honor Final Battle was the first in a three-night extravaganza that sees AEW take over the Hammerstein ballroom over the weekend, something Tony Khan says he hopes will be the first in many more to come.
