Ring of Honor Review - November 28, 2018

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Matt Taven def. The Boys in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match

This was originally supposed to see The Kingdom's TK O'Ryan and Vinny Marseglia battle The Boys, but Taven decided that he could beat them all on his own. Sure enough, that didn't turn out to be the case at all and Taven needed a ton of interference in order to win the match. That was a bit strange/disappointing, but at least this succeeded in getting further heat on Taven and The Kingdom.

Zack Sabre Accepted Jonathan Gresham's Final Battle Open Challenge

Gresham has been on quite the roll since his ROH World Championship clash with Jay Lethal a while back and it's cool to see him involved in a prominent match at Final Battle. He told Ian Riccaboni in the middle of the ring that he was issuing an open challenge for the pay-per-view, and then soon after, Sabre appeared on the big screen to accept his invitation. Unless I'm mistaken, Sabre has never before wrestled for Ring of Honor, so it will be a monumental matchup and an extremely fun one at that.

Kelly Klein def. Jenny Rose to Advance to the WOH World Championship Four Corner Survival Match at Final Battle

As I've noted before, ROH's Women of Honor division continues to grow and I like that additional stories are being told with the women from week to week. Rose pinned Klein in a tag team match several weeks ago and the winner of this bout would move on to Final Battle to vie for the WOH World Championship in a Four Corner Survival matchup. This was an enjoyable outing with solid showings from both women, and Rose especially impressed me. However, it was Klein who ultimately emerged victorious and punched her ticket to the pay-per-view.

The Young Bucks vs. The Briscoes in a ROH World Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender's Match Ended in a Double Disqualification

The Young Bucks and The Briscoes have always had strong chemistry together, so it came as no surprise that they had another exciting encounter here prior to the non-finish. I feel like I've seen them wage war on countless occasions over the years, yet their matches never get old. The double disqualification set up SoCal Uncensored coming out afterward and announcing that at Final Battle, it will be a three-way Ladder War for the tag titles. I was in attendance for the last one two years ago and it was one of the best bouts I've ever seen live and I can't wait to witness this next installment in person as well.

Overall Show

ROH doesn't ordinarily do the strongest job of hyping up their pay-per-views, but Final Battle has been the exception so far and they've created quite the compelling card for the event. Not only that, but each advertised bout has received an ample amount of focus/build/television time lately and it has made these editions of ROH TV much more meaningful as a result. This was a quality show with some solid in-ring action and a number of new match announcements for Final Battle.