ROH Final Battle Review - December 5, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Zero Hour: The Outrunners def. Premier Athletes (Ariya Daivari and Tony Nese)

Premier Athletes have been built up and racking up wins since Stori Denali joined the group a few months ago, albeit mostly against enhancement talent. That had me thinking they might beat The Outrunners here, but thankfully, that was not the case (proving Denali is the one they're protecting, not Daivari and Nese). This was a very basic bout, but The Outrunners are such fan favorites that the crowd had fun with it.

Zero Hour: Leila Grey def. Zayda Steel

This was set up backstage on Tuesday's edition of ROH TV. For those unaware, Steel announced she wasn't renewing her WWE ID contract and all reports indicating she was bound for AEW. Of course, Ring of Honor is owned by AEW, so this still counts. I would've put her over here, but we found out later on that Grey will challenge Mercedes Mone for the AEW TBS Championship on Saturday's Collision. The match was fine, but my top takeaway was that Steel has potential.

Zero Hour: Ace Austin def. Lee Johnson

Austin has largely been spinning his wheels since signing with AEW, so I honestly wouldn't have an issue with him spending some time in ROH to find his footing. Much like the rest of the pre-show, this could easily happened on any ordinary edition of ROH TV, but it seemed to serve as a showcase for Austin more than anything else, which is an encouraging sign for his future.

Zero Hour: The Death Riders (Daniel Garcia and Wheeler Yuta) def. Grizzled Young Veterans

As I've said before, I don't understand the need to feature Death Riders on ROH TV while they're still being prominently featured on AEW TV. Granted, they're not in the world title picture or anything like that, but I don't see what purpose their matches are supposed to serve when they don't lead to anything. The match was decent Grizzled Young Veterans did well in the babyface role here, but they lost yet again as they always do.

Deonna Purrazzo def. Billie Starkz in the Finals of the ROH Women's Pure Championship Tournament to Become the Inaugural ROH Women's Pure Champion

Let the record show that this tournament was announced back in the spring and took almost eight months to culminate. What's wilder is that I don't think this women's Pure division is going to stick or be remotely important a few months from now. To their credit, though, Purrazzo and Starkz worked hard and had one of the better Pure Rules matches I've seen in recent memory.

ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty def. Nigel McGuinness in a 30-Minute Iron Man Match (Non-Title)

I have no idea why this wasn't for the ROH Pure Championship when Moriarty ended up winning, anyway. It was probably better that it wasn't because this wasn't contested under Pure Rules. I never thought we'd see McGuinness in another Iron Man match, but it was the perfect stipulation for these two and they definitely maximized their minutes. Moriarty won in overtime before being endorsed by McGuinness afterward. Jon Moxley, who was on commentary for the show up to this point, then cut a promo at ringside about his upcoming Continental Classic match with Konosuke Takeshita on Collision and left through the crowd.

Red Velvet def. AEW TBS Champion Mercedes Mone to Win the ROH Women's World Television Championship (AEW TBS Championship Was Not Defended)

I automatically assumed Mone was winning here because she's only ever lost to Toni Storm and Kris Statlander since signing with AEW, but I'm happy to have been wrong. Velvet hasn't had a ton of memorable matches over the last five years, but this had to be her best yet. Of course, having Mone as an opponent helped, but Velvet more than held her own in there and had a standout showing in her own right. This far exceeded my expectations and hopefully Mone can capitalize on such a big victory.

La Faccion Ingobernable (The Beast Mortos and Sammy Guevara) def. "Dynamite Kid" Tommy Billington and Adam Priest

I can't think of another instance where someone had three consecutive tag title reigns, but Guevara has officially accomplished it through his reigns with Dustin Rhodes, Rush and now Mortos. Billington and Priest have turned into a nice team this year, but it would've been too soon for them to take the titles here. This was well paced as they made the most of the time they had.

Eddie Kingston def. Josh Woods

I like Woods, but it was a very puzzling decision for Kingston to have a competitive contest with him days before Kingston challenges Samoa Joe for the AEW World Championship on Wednesday's Winter Is Coming edition of Dynamite. It would've been one thing if Kingston squashed Woods relatively quickly, but instead, this went almost 10 minutes. There was nothing technically wrong with the match, but I have no idea why it needed to exist.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Shane Taylor Promotions (The Infantry and Shane Taylor) def. SkyFlight (Top Flight and Scorpio Sky)

This was one of the better built matches on the entire show. It won't win Feud of the Year or anything, but at least it wasn't a random, last-minute addition to the card. I appreciate the renewed focus the six-man tag team division has gotten as of late and this was an enjoyable outing with all six guys getting some time to shine. We'll see if SkyFlight remain in the mix or if Shane Taylor Promotions will move on to other challengers.

AEW National Champion Ricochet def. Dalton Castle

My mind is blown that Ricochet never wrestled in ROH before now. Also, a big deal was made over this being the first time an AEW title has been defended in ROH (which is also hard to believe). I'd love if the AEW National Championship actually does get defended in ROH regularly, but time will tell. Castle's best days as a singles star are behind him, but this was still a very good match with the two having quality chemistry together.

ROH World Champion Bandido def. Hechicero, Blake Christian, Komander, ROH World Tag Team Champion The Beast Mortos and ROH World Champion Sammy Guevara in a Survival of the Fittest Match

It feels like Bandido is always either "injured" and/or fighting from underneath, but it's where he thrives and it's what makes him one of the greatest babyfaces in all of wrestling. I don't Guevara and Mortos being involved here was necessary since they already wrestled earlier in the evening, but I guess it was to further stack the odds against Bandido. It was the excellent match you'd expect given the level of talent here and it only got better as it went along when it looked like Bandido might actually lose. Christian injuring Bandido after getting eliminated makes me think we'll be getting of Bandido and Christian, but Christian shouldn't be the one to ultimately take the title from him seeing as how uninteresting he is as a character.

ROH Women's World Champion Athena def. Persephone

Athena kicked off her historic ROH Women's World Championship run at Final Battle three years ago, so I can understand why this would close the show. That said, Survival of the Fittest felt like more of a main event and had a more unpredictable outcome. Persephone has been very impressive from what I've seen of her this year, but I didn't buy into the idea of her capturing the championship here. Nonetheless, she and Athena had a top-notch match, and Athena retaining yet again means she won't be escaping ROH purgatory anytime soon.

Overall Show

Stop me if you've heard this before, but despite a fairly forgettable build, Final Battle delivered. I'd say it was one of the most entertaining installments they've done since Tony Khan bought the company, but I remember the 2022 and 2023 shows being above average also. I didn't expect anything less. Two thumbs-up for Final Battle, but it'd be wonderful if ROH TV meant more from week to week so there was more of a reason to give a shit about the product outside of the quarterly pay-per-views.

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