ShopROH has DVDs half off on stuff from 2017-2019. Mainly B-shows but there's actually some of their best stuff. Gresham vs Lethal, Lethal vs Silas, UK tour and Global Wars sets less than 10 or even $5 in some cases. The shipping is around $9 (steep) but the more you buy the less that actually is per DVD. Also they expanded the Collector's Edition stuff as I mentioned above. That's not on sale but perhaps they'll have a black Friday deal. Just an fyi for all the old timers.

And now Bandido is off Final Battle after testing positive for COVID. Talk about going out with a whimper.

Tony Khan is sending talent. Jay Lethal is taking Bandido 's  spot. I would not be shocked in Daniels ,Punk  and Danielson make an  appearance . Perhaps  in non - wrestling roles.

I figured it would be a no brainer for Tony to lend a hand here. It's a no lose situation, he gets the pub for being a bro helping out ROH save what potentially is their last show ever, guys on his payroll get to pay their respects, and maybe he gets the All In rights as a thank you gift.  

Considering AEW's existence basically killed ROH (well, it made it irrelevant to the point AEW and NJPW would rather work alongside IMPACT), it must be kinda bittersweet.

I'm watching Final Battle solely for the Briscoes tag match & because it'll in all likelihood be the last Ring of Honor show. Thus far, to call this show a whimper would be an overstatement. It's... depressing. 

EDIT: It got better when the actual show started. The Dragon Lee match was fine. Skip the pre-show, for sure.

I was pretty much a regular at ROH shows from 2004- early 2006. I had a lot of fun, made some pals and acquaintances, including Samoa Joe, and saw a ton of great wrestling shows. Promotions come and promotions go, and ROH lasted longer than anyone thought it would.  Sad to see it go, even though I haven't watched it in years. 

When I first started getting heavily back into watching wrestling after taking a break, ROH is what hooked me back in.  Went to several shows over the past decade, including a couple PPV’s.  I have lost touch with the company over the past few years but I’ll always look back fondly on them.

If you had "Braun Strowman shows up on the final (possibly ever) ROH PPV" on your 2021 bingo card, please collect your winnings. 

Not any weirder than Ox Baker at my first ROH show but definitely not close as cool as Ox Baker and Dusty Rhodes kicking off and ending the show where Jay Briscoe almost bled to death.  Who knows, though? Maybe Braun got the DVD's and loved Carnage Crew as much as I did. I'm not gonna gatekeeper that giant redneck.

Edit: I really need to write up the experiences I had at those ROH and JAPW shows from those two years. I was so lucky to be at some really great shows and be there for the explosion of stars like Joe, Punk, Danielson, AJ, Homicide, The Briscoes, Matt Striker( The unibrow guy, not the bad announcer), and THE EMBASSY.

Wow, I'm rambling. But it really was an amazing two years of wrestling shows in Philly and Jersey..and eventually NYC.

 

Skimming through the show now. 

Titus getting the TV title seems like the ultimate "let's put the belt on a guy that might be around in three months" move.

At least a little curious about seeing what they do with the Purazzo angle.

The stuff I liked most was sort of tribute-y - King and Taylor doing a fight without honor mimicing Steen-Generico or a bunch of other stuff in the past, or the series of call-backs in the Violence Unlimited match.

Braun getting the pop he did is very Sid in ECW.

5 minutes ago, Migs said:

At least a little curious about seeing what they do with the Purazzo angle.

Title match on IMPACT TV. I mean, why not, Purazzo can get the ROH title and wear it while the promotion is on (permanent ?) hiatus. I'm pretty sure she gets the IMPACT title back at Hard to Kill, so she can wear three belts for a while like Omega did.

Former Braun Strowman debuting on a promotion last show is kinda puzzling to say the least. I mean, why ?

Oh and hey, FTR! Pretty in for them against the Briscoes. 

Final Battle was a fun show with Lee/Horus, Briscoes/OGK, and Gresham/Lethal being notebook material. Very intrigued about the about the title situation, Deonna running around the ROH women's title will be fun to see and I could the Briscoes/FTR being done at Battle of the Belts.

I'm guessing Adam Titan/EC3 with the rest of the narrative will be a traveling act.

Really hope for a great outcome for ROH next year.

Watching the show now, and while I hope everyone involved in ROH is able to land a gig somewhere, I really hope Ian Riccaboni gets hired somewhere. Dude really is one of the more underrated announcers around, and hearing him in "fuck it, they can't fire me now" mode on this show has been awesome. 

21 minutes ago, sek69 said:

Watching the show now, and while I hope everyone involved in ROH is able to land a gig somewhere, I really hope Ian Riccaboni gets hired somewhere. Dude really is one of the more underrated announcers around, and hearing him in "fuck it, they can't fire me now" mode on this show has been awesome. 

He was great & I agree.

On the flip side, I hope I never see Todd Sinclair again.

Ian is getting a NJPW Strong tryout . I guess he will reteam with  Kevin Kelly.

I  am beginning to suspect that Tony Khan has purchased either  all of ROH or a controlling interest. All of these AEW contracted talents paying their respects to ROH seems hollow.  These are the same guys  who went to  AEW and left ROH high and dry. Which is fine because business is business. SBGI was too cheap and paid the price .

However , do any of these AEW or  Impact guys really give a damn about ROH  ? They are just appearing because Khan needed them on Final Battle to help with the transition  . AEW was never mentioned on a ROH broadcast until now. The FTR was on FB and the AEW brand  was all over the show .

Will the ROH relaunch be Khan taking  over the company and the SBGI media platforms finally being utilized  properly . SBGI can still generate revenue by merely providing broadcast outlets from ROH .  Khan will take over  responsibility   of funding ROH  and receive all of the house shows and PPV revenue . Of  course Khan will get a rights fee or a piece of SBGI  ad revenue.

Khan needs  footage in order to launch  a streaming service. It would years for AEW to create enough  footage to get that project off the ground. If Khan can secure  the ROH , TNA/ Impact and PWG footage , he  can launch a streaming service now.

  Khan  would be in a great position  if he had the AEW Turner TV shows ,  AEW PPVs  , the AEW internet programming  , ROH free broadcast TV ,  the  restarted ROH house  show business , ROH PPVs and almost 20 years of ROH footage .

Of course I could be wrong about everything . Khan could be just a great guy helping  poor SBGI out in their darkest hour , but I kind of doubt that . Businessmen don't make billions by being nice.

 

Well TK has said many times he's open to working with anyone, even WWE (not that he expects that to happen) if it helps out pro wrestling. Plus there's no harm in helping a company that for all intents and purposes is done. 

FWIW, I also believe that some kind of deal was made between ROH and AEW, but that doesn't mean it was solely a business decision. 

The ROH world title is being defended at the GCW Hammerstein show. Eyebrow raise emoji indeed. 

They made a point at Final Battle to thank not only TK but Brett and Billy so I would expect ROH title matches in GCW and the NWA (I think OGK already defended the tag titles on the last NWA PPV). 

It would be something if the ROH titles ended up being the American version of how the UWA titles being defended in Mexico for decades after that company folded. 

Seeing ROH go by the wayside with AEW absorbing them (and the available old footage) seems totally possible and welcomed. Cornette seemed to think that AEW could do something with the Sinclair ROH shows to reach a wider more general audience etc., stuff with how the contract would be worked out etc. It was awhile ago when I heard this and my brain is mush right now. BUT it actually seemed quite plausible and sounded like a death with dignity for ROH. I don't think it'd be a bad idea to show classic matches of AEW stars in ROH's time slot to get started along with weekly AEW highlights for instance. Or that's my hope

 

ROH actually announced a date and location for the April show and are putting tickets on sale. So I guess the reboot is happening in some form.

Bryan Danielson To Be Inducted Into Ring Of Honor Hall Of Fame

https://www.mandatory.com/wrestlezone/news/1279069-bryan-danielson-to-be-inducted-into-ring-of-honor-hall-of-fame

Interesting! Makes me wonder what the AEW situation is at the moment... is ROH just so far down the ladder that Tony's fine to let a guy show up to be inducted? Is it possible they want to use ROH as a bit of a farm system to get guys more matches?