Ring Of Honor just issued the following announcement, revealing Cody Rhodes will challenge Jay Lethal for the Ring Of Honor World Championship at Final Battle next month:
Ring of Honor’s seminal event, Final Battle, emanates from Manhattan Center’s Hammerstein Ballroom on Friday, Dec. 14. Final Battle is ROH’s biggest card of the year and has been the site of some of ROH’s most memorable matches.
All roads lead to the G1 Supercard, co-promoted by ROH and New Japan Pro-Wrestling, at sold-out Madison Square Garden on April 6, 2019, and the results at Final Battle undoubtedly will have an impact on the historic show.
ROH officials have booked a huge main event for Final Battle, as two-time ROH World Champion Jay Lethal will defend his title against former champion Cody, who has been waiting a full year for a one-on-one rematch for the title since losing it to Dalton Castle at last year’s Final Battle.
MAIN EVENT
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH
ROH WORLD CHAMPION JAY LETHAL vs. CODYIt has been an amazing 2018 for both Lethal and Cody, so it’s only fitting that they face each other for the richest prize in pro wrestling — the ROH World Title — on ROH’s monumental final pay-per-view of the year.
This will be the second time in three years that Lethal and Cody have met at Final Battle. Cody made his ROH debut at the 2016 event, where he scored a tainted victory over Lethal. Six months later, Cody won the ROH World Title from Christopher Daniels, but he finished 2017 on a down note when Dalton Castle ended the second-generation superstar’s 175-day reign.
Cody wasn’t down for long, however. His feud with Kenny Omega over leadership of Bullet Club was the talk of the wrestling world. Cody defeated Omega at Supercard of Honor in April, but Omega avenged the loss at New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s G1 Special in July. After the latter bout, Cody and Omega buried the hatchet.
In addition to his in-ring exploits, Cody joined forces with The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) to fund and produce the ground-breaking All In pay-per-view, the biggest independent wrestling show ever. The Sept. 1 event drew a crowd of 11,263, selling out Sears Centre in Chicago in less than 30 minutes.
On that show, Cody won the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Title from Nick Aldis, the same championship his father, the late “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes had won on three occasions. Four weeks later, Cody won the IWGP United States Title — a championship he still holds — from Juice Robinson, and he also spent three months as a co-holder of the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Titles with The Young Bucks.
For all his championship success, however, Cody was unable to regain the ROH World Title. He chose not to ask for an immediate rematch, and then when he did set his sights on regaining the title, his two opportunities both came in multi-man matches. The second of those took place on June 30, and in that match, Lethal pinned then-champion Castle to regain the title.
It had been a long journey back to the title for Lethal, whose first reign as ROH World Champion ended in August 2016 after 427 days, the fourth-longest reign in ROH history. Directionless for much of 2017 and into 2018, Lethal still won more than his share of matches, but he lost some, too.
This past May, Lethal admitted that he was lost without the ROH World Title belt around his waist. He vowed to win the championship for a second time, but ROH management informed him that he needed to amass more victories to receive another title shot. Lethal accepted the challenge and took it a step further. He vowed to defeat all the competitors who had scored recent victories over him.
Lethal did exactly that, avenging his losses to Punishment Martinez, Matt Taven, Chuckie T, Mark Briscoe and KUSHIDA. The night after his victory over KUSHIDA, Lethal asked for a title shot against Castle. Cody and Taven wanted a shot as well, and Castle, being a fighting champion, agreed to face all of them in a Four Corner Survival Match, which Lethal ended up winning.
Lethal, aptly named “The Franchise of ROH,” had now held the ROH World Title for a combined 564 days (as of November 14), second only to Samoa Joe’s 645 days as champion. He has made it clear that he wants to walk into a sold-out Madison Square Garden for G1 Supercard on April 6, 2019 as the reigning, defending ROH World Champion. First, he’ll have to get past Cody at Final Battle.
Lethal and Cody are both at the top of their game, but only one of them will leave Final Battle as the ROH World Champion. Will Lethal continue to make his case for being the greatest ROH World Champion of all time, or will Cody end 2018 with yet another championship victory?
Find out LIVE as very limited tickets remain to join us in New York City for Final Battle!
Watch Final Battle LIVE on pay-per-view or stream FREE as an HonorClub VIP member or 50% off with an HonorClub Standard membership through the ROH App and ROHHonorClub.com!
ROH FINAL BATTLE
Friday, Dec 14, 2018, 8 p.m. ET
The Manhattan Center’s Hammerstein Ballroom
311 W 34th Street
New York, New York 10001ALREADY SIGNED:
MAIN EVENT
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH
ROH WORLD CHAMPION JAY LETHAL vs. CODYFOUR CORNER SURVIVAL FOR WOMEN OF HONOR WORLD TITLE
WOH WORLD CHAMPION SUMIE SAKAI vs. MADISON RAYNE vs. KAREN Q vs. WINNER OF KELLY KLEIN/JENNY ROSEMATT TAVEN vs. DALTON CASTLE
New Japan Pro Wednesday (11/14) World Tag League Set To Begin
Cody recently revealed his injured the meniscus in his right knee during an appearance on Ring Of Honor’s War Of The Worlds tour last weekend. He said the good news was that his MCL, PCL, and ACL muscles are “structurally sound” and he’d still be able to compete at Final Battle and Wrestle Kingdom 13.
ROH’s Final Battle takes place on December 14th at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.
