FTR didn’t have the best year in 2021. The tag team was stuck in limbo after jumping ships from WWE to AEW and they didn’t get a lot of opportunities to showcase their talent. The duo of Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler decided to change this in 2022 and the team that helped them in this task was none other than The Briscoes.

Harwood talked about their highly praised feud with the ROH veterans on the latest episode of his podcast. He remembered their first encounter at ROH Final Battle in December, 2021 where FTR attacked The Briscoes. Per Dax, there were no plans for them in the place at the time and they just wanted to test the waters:

“We just wanted to test the waters. We just wanted to see what was gonna happen. Myself and Cash, really were in a low point in our career. We weren’t doing anything. We begged Tony to let us do that.”

– Dax Harwood

‘We Deserve To Be On National Television’: Dax Harwood

The Final Battle confrontation led to a highly praised match between the two teams at Supercard of Honor 2022. It was the time when the future of ROH was in question. So the two teams decided to go out with a blaze of glory and prove that they deserved to be on national television every week:

“We knew we could go. If Ring of Honor was going to go out, the four of us could go out with a blaze of glory and say, ‘This is who we are. This is what we represent and we deserve a job somewhere. We deserve to be on national television every week somewhere.’ That was our mindset going into it. Then the match happened. Man, it was f**king magical.”

The match between FTR and The Briscoes at Supercard of Honor was awarded a five-star rating by Dave Meltzer. It helped both the teams create buzz. They went on to have two more highly praised matches that helped put them back on the map.

More Originals From SEScoops:

• LA Knight on Sharing the Ring With Undertaker, Being Managed by Paul Bearer
• John Morrison Thinks Hall of Fame Is ‘Political And Made Up’
• Kofi Kingston Reflects On Crazy Moments With New Day
• Jade Cargill Offers Big Praise To WWE Star: “She’s A Total Package”
• Cora Jade Recalls Crazy Experience With Fan On The Road After Controversial NXT Segment

If you use any quotes from the article, please credit SEScoops with an H/t for transcription

Mark Briscoe believes that Jay Briscoe is not truly gone and he has just moved on to the next higher level of existence. Now it’s time to wrestle for him.

The ROH veteran addressed the passing of his brother in a video published on Caprice Coleman’s Twitter account. He mentioned that he wouldn’t have been able to continue wrestling this long, if his brother was not with him:

“Ain’t no way I’ve been wanting to do this for this long if ain’t have my boy with me this whole time. But now, it’s time to carry on for him. Family is beyond. This life is temporary. Let’s focus on the eternal, not the temporal.”

Jay Briscoe passed away in an unfortunate car accident on January 17. The wrestling world has since come together to mourn the loss and pay tribute to the ROH legend.

Mark Brisoce: “He Ain’t Gone”

Mark Briscoe mentioned how Jay is not with him in person. Though the late star is still in his heart and knowing that has helped him keep going:

AEW presented a tribute show for Jay Briscoe on this week’s Dynamite. You can check out the tribute video they put together below:

A new Jay Briscoe t-shirt is now available, with 100% of the proceeds going to the late star’s family. Briscoe (Jamil Pugh) passed away last week (January 17, 2023) in a tragic automobile accident. He was just 38.

The shirt is officially on sale by Ring of Honor at the Pro Wrestling Tees and ShopAEW stores. The description for the shirt reads:

“On January 17th, the wrestling world lost one of its most beloved family members when Jamin Pugh, known professionally as Jay Briscoe, tragically lost his life in an automobile accident. A member of the Ring of Honor family from the very beginning, Jay became a multi-time ROH World Champion, a 13-time ROH World Tag Team Champion, and a first-ballot ROH Hall of Famer with his brother Mark.

Together, The Briscoe Brothers were a part of ROH’s foundation, the heart and soul, and were essential in building that company into the most influential wrestling promotion of the last twenty years But more than that, the Pugh family lost a husband, a father, a brother, a son, and in an effort to both honor Jay’s memory as well as support those left behind, we are offering this “Reach For The Sky” t-shirt with 100% of the proceeds going to benefit the Pugh family as they cope with this tragic loss.“

If you’re interested in donating to the Pugh family, a fundraiser has been arranged to help ease any financial burdens that will arise from his passing. Visit Givesendgo.com to donate.

• Positive Update on Jay Briscoe’s Daughters After Tragic Car Accident

The wrestling world is still reeling from the sudden death of Jay Briscoe. Many have taken to social media to express their feelings and memories. AEW paid tribute to Briscoe on Dynamite and filmed a special that will air on Honor Club and ROH’s YouTube.

In the latest episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Matt Hardy and Jon Alba had a tribute show to Jay Briscoe. Hardy reflected on Briscoe as a man, friend, and opponent. He shared many stories, including the first time the Hardy Boyz faced The Briscoes.

Matt Hardy and Jay Briscoe Nearly Come To Blows

Hardy first met the Briscoes in 2005 when he was wrestling for ROH. He got to know them more in 2011 when he was wrestling for both ROH and TNA. He spoke about how he was an ass kicker in the ring, but very soft spoken and humble outside of it.

During that time, Hardy was also working with OMEGA. Shane “Hurricane” Helms was putting the shows together. Hardy spoke with ROH to get the Briscoes for an OMEGA show. Jeff Hardy was in IMPACT at the time and didn’t really take indie dates, but he wanted to have a match with the Briscoes.

“They drove down from Delaware to come to North Carolina for the show, right? We were able to get them a pretty good payday. I knew them both from Ring of Honor and had been working with them for a couple of years at that point. I’ll never forget when they got there, I took them to Pik N Pig, a barbecue place. (…) I’ll never forget, I said, ‘you guys are going to love this place, especially if you’re barbecue fans.’

“We went and had a great meal. I almost had to fight Jay because I wanted to pay for their lunch and dinner. But, he like wanted to pay for it so badly. He was like, ‘nah, man. I’m down here. We’re working with your guys and you’re taking good care of us.’ I told him, ‘you drove down. This is mine and Jeff’s high school that we went to. It’s important to us. We wanted to have this match with you for a long time. Thank you.'”

Hardy had to sneak and pay the bill.

The Hardy Boyz vs. The Briscoes for the first time

For the match, The Briscoes are heels. Jeff is hurt on the outside and Matt is taking all the heat. While Jeff leaves ringside, Willow the Wisp shows up with an umbrella to the Briscoes. Willow disappears and Jeff returns.

“We had been feuding in ROH and had established a hatred. We were in Union Pines and it swapped. I was now the babyface and he was the heel. So, we still had that. It had been built really strong that we didn’t like each other. We wanted to parlay that by switching the roles in the match. They did their job well.”

“This was one of Jeff’s first times meeting them and spending time with them. I remember he had the idea of doing the Willow thing because we had done that a little bit and he had done it in TNA a few times. He was like, ‘Man, I know you guys are pretty serious whenever you wrestle. Pretty straight forward. Are you cool if we do this where I’m hurt and come back as Willow?’ And I remember they said, ‘HELL YEAH!’ That’s great. Let’s do that! Whatever you want to do, we are down.’ And Jeff said, ‘are you okay if I hit you with an umbrella?’ Jay said, ‘Beat the shit out me, man! It’s just an umbrella. Beat the fuck out of me, man.’ He said, ‘nail me.’ He was so great. Just a great attitude.”

Hardy revealed towards the end of the episode that they were supposed to face The Briscoes in AEW or ROH. They had been approached by an indie promotion about the match. Hardy went to Tony Khan to ask if they could or if he’d rather they not. Khan said he rather they didn’t take an indie date, but they discussed doing it at some point in either AEW or ROH. Hardy lamented the fact that it will never happen now, but is glad for the other times they got to wrestle.

After the TV tapings for Dynamite and Rampage from Fresno, CA this week AEW taped a tribute show titled “Jay Briscoe Celebration of Life.” The ring apron and graphics were switched to ROH for this and the special has been confirmed to be airing on the Honor Club platform for free. Below are the complete results from this special show:

Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman opened the show and talked about the late star as a performer and father. They promoted the show to be in honor of Jay Briscoe. ROH owner Tony Khan also came out and thanked everyone for being present to honor the life and legacy of a great man.

Adam Cole cut a promo talking about his history and friendship with Jay. Cole said that he loves and misses Jay and that the former ROH star left the world a better place

• ROH Pure Championship Match: Wheeler Yuta def. Hagane Shinno. Jerry Lynn, Dean Malenko and BJ Whitmer were the judges for this contest.
• Singles Match: Marina Shafir def. Mighty Myra.
• Singles Match: Eddie Kingston def. QT Marshall.
• ROH Women’s Championship Match: Athena def. Madison Rayne with Sky Blue. Post-match, Athena attacked Blue with the title belt
• Singles Match: Juice Robinson def. Brandon Cutler
• Singles Match: Yuka Sakazaki def. Sandra Moon
• ROH Championship Match: Claudio Castagnoli def. Christopher Daniels. Castagnoli used the Jay-Driller to pick up the victory.

Post-match, Daniels cut a promo saying Jay was the toughest wrestler he knew. Castagnoli then told the crowd to not take tomorrow for granted. He thanked the fans and mentioned that he loved Jay. The ROH champion asked the fans to keep Jay and his family in their thoughts and drive home safe.

• Tommy Dreamer Pays Tribute To Jay Briscoe With Touching Story

Tributes have been pouring in for Jay Briscoe ever since the news of his tragic passing come out. People from across the wrestling world have been sharing their memories and stories showcasing the late star’s passion for wrestling and his love for his family.

On the latest Busted Open Radio, former ROH owner Carry Silkin, Tommy Dreamer, and others paid tribute to him. During the show, the group discussed how The Briscoes were the same behind the scene as they were in the ring and they always brought their authentic self on the table.

Speaking about his interactions with the duo, Dreamer said that they were the first ones who made him feel welcome in ROH. The ECW legend then told the story of working with the ROH tag champs for the first time for his House of Hardcore promotion:

“I remember when they did my House Of Hardcore show. They attacked me and Bully [Ray]. We were going to go that route of having a tag match [in] 2017-ish. I remember walking up to him after the show and I handed them envelopes and Jay was like, ‘Nah, man, we’re good. We didn’t do anything.’ I said ‘Dude, you did. You travelled here and I’m paying you.’ He goes ‘Nah.’ I said, ‘Listen, never turn down money. you’re helping me build something.’ Then he was like ‘allll right.’

The fact that him and his brother were just gonna take that for free.” said Tommy Dreamer, “I would not want people to do that but the fact that they were and like, told me that they didn’t want to get paid. They’re like, ‘Nah, man, that was cool. That was cool shit.’ I was just like, ‘Well just take this. it’s not a lot but please take this and we’re going to do future business with each other’ and it worked. It helped but just trying to tell you the men that they are.”

The Briscoe Brothers had been part of the ROH roster since the very beginning. They were present for the very first ROH show in 2002 where Jay Briscoe wrestled Amazing Red. Their team has won the ROH tag team titles over a dozen times and Jay also held the ROH world title a couple of times.

More:

• WWE and AEW Stars Pay Tribute To Jay Briscoe
• Jay Briscoe’s Wife Provides Harrowing Update Following His Fatal Car Crash
• AEW Pays Tribute to Jay Briscoe on Dynamite

If you use any quotes from the article, please credit SEScoops with an H/t for transcription

Wrestling world has been left in shock after the sudden passing of Jay Briscoe. One-half of the ROH tag champs passed away in a car accident earlier on Tuesday.

The 38-year-old had been one of the longest-tenured ROH employees. He made his debut for the company in 2002 and competed for them regularly until this year.

Wrestling personalities from across the globe have been mourning the loss of the wrestling veteran ever since the news was confirmed by Tony Khan.

WWE chief content officer Triple H took on his Twitter to pay tribute to the late star. He noted how Jay Briscoe had developed a deep connection with fans across the globe:

FTR’s Cash Wheeler, who had several matches with the Briscoes in the past year tweeted that he doesn’t have words to describe what he is feeling:

WWE star Cody Rhodes mentioned that he didn’t know Jay very well but he understood instantly that the ROH star was a family man:

Christopher Daniels who has also had several stints with ROH in his career noted that the late star was a tremendous brother and father:

Others who have paid tribute to Jay Briscoe include Tommy Dreamer, Brandi Rhodes, Nick Jackson, Gunther and many more. You can check out their posts below:

AEW/ROH President Tony Khan shared some sad news on Tuesday night as he confirmed that Jay Briscoe, Jamin Pugh, has passed away. 

The ROH star was just 38 years old. Khan didn’t provide a cause of death. He did issue the following statement on the passing of the fan-favorite star: 

“Sadly, Jamin Pugh has passed away. Known to fans as Jay Briscoe, he was a star in ROH for over 20 years, from the first show until today. Jay and his brother Mark dominated ROH, reigning as champions to this day. We’ll do whatever we can to support his family. Rest In Peace, Jamin.”

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted that Jay died in a car accident today. 

Jay Briscoe’s Legacy

Jay was working for ROH at the time of his passing as he is the current one-half of ROH World Tag Team Champions with Mark Briscoe in their thirteenth reign. He was also a former two-time ROH World Champion and ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion.

Jay and Mark Briscoe made their wrestling debut for Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) in 2001. They had a run in Impact Wrestling last year and have worked for NJPW since 2016. Jay and Mark were inducted 

Our thoughts are with the Briscoe family at this time.

Dax Harwood has been especially busy as of late, competing for ROH, AEW, and AAA, but the FTR member is working hurt.

Harwood and Cash Wheeler recently competed at AAA’s Noches de Campeones event, losing the AAA World Tag Team Titles to Dragon Lee and Dralistico.

Post-match, Dragon Lee announced that he has signed with WWE and the titles have since been vacated.

Working Hurt

This title loss comes mere weeks after FTR was dethroned as Ring of Honor World Tag Team Champions, losing to The Briscoes at ROH Final Battle.

Harwood is still banged up from the Double Dog Collar match and is working through the pain, Fightful Select reports.

Harwood was reportedly injured after being suplexed by Jay Briscoe onto a pile of steel chairs.

What’s Next for FTR?

There’s no rest for Harwood though, as he and Wheeler will be defending the IWGP World Tag Team Championships next week at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17.

FTR, who won the titles at AEWxNJPW: Forbidden Door in June of this year, will defend against Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi.)

In a previous report from Fightful, Harwood told the site that he believes his and Wheeler’s contracts with AEW expire in April of next year.

Harwood also suggested that the pair may take a year away from pro-wrestling, or possibly just work non-televised events.

Speaking on the final episode of the Gentleman Villain podcast this month, Harwood refuted claims that they complained backstage about their role in WWE, adding that they knew they’d stay “in the rut” if they remained with the promotion.

Chris Jericho is arguably AEW’s top act and the biggest name on the roster since the start of the promotion in 2019. 

TBS is also well aware of that value as Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Tony Khan had always planned Jericho vs. Claudio Castagnoli would close out the ROH Final Battle event on December 10. However, Khan did receive a little pushback.

Jericho dropped the ROH World Title to Claudio at Final Battle. Per the report, “[TBS SVP] Sam Linsky and TBS actually were at first against Jericho, as one of the top guys in AEW, appearing on this PPV show.”

Agreement

There was a point where Jericho was scheduled to lose the ROH World Title in the fatal 4-way bout at Full Gear in November to Claudio. However, they ultimately changed it when everyone got on the same page. 

The stakes were high for Castagnoli at Final Battle as his future in the Blackpool Combat Club was on the line. The stipulation stated that if Castagnoli would have lost his Final Battle fight, he would have had to join The Jericho Appreciation Society. 

Jericho started off his reign by defeating Castagnoli before he defended it against several names, including Dalton Castle, Bandido, and Colt Cabana. 

Ring of Honor presented its third and final pay-per-view event of 2022 with Final Battle last weekend. It closed up the first year under Tony Khan’s ownership and creative vision for the brand. 

The early estimates are in for ROH Final Battle. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, the show drew over 25,000 pay-per-view buys (19,000 streaming and 6,400 cable) based on first-week estimates, which are “always low in the end by five to 10 percent.”

The other pay-per-view events for ROH this year were ROH Supercard of Honor in April, with 23,000 buys, and ROH Death Before Dishonor in July, with 37,000 buys.

Other Metrics

This edition was the biggest PPV number, and the highest attended ROH Final Battle in company history.

The show reportedly drew 2,700 fans, with 2,500 paid at the College Park Center.

The show featured a loaded lineup, including the highly praised double dog collar match for the ROH World Tag Team Titles between The Briscoes (Mark & Jay Briscoe) against FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) that saw FTR drop the titles. 

It was headlined by Chris Jericho defending the ROH World Title against Claudio Castagnoli. Jericho dropped the championship back to Claudio. 

Dax Harwood says 2022 was the greatest year of his life and it was capped off by a match he calls his masterpiece.

FTR is widely regarded as one of the greatest tag teams in the world and they’ve held the gold to prove it. Some would argue that All Elite Wrestling could have featured them more prominently this year, but Harwood and Wheeler’s excellence is undeniable. Their tag team record currently stands at 7-3-1 for the year and they’re 6-0 in trios matches.

As the year winds down, Harwood took a chance to look back at the highs and lows of the past twelve months and ponder what the future holds for pro wrestling’s Top Guys. It wasn’t an easy year, but that’s part of what made it so rewarding for him.

2022 and Looking Ahead to 2023

On Friday, December 16, Dax Harwood posted a touching message on social media reflecting on how proud he is of FTR’s work this year and their latest classic against the Briscoe Brothers last weekend at ROH Final Battle.

2022 brought a wide range of emotions, including anger, frustration, joy and pain. He doesn’t know what next year will bring, but he’s grateful for the fans who have supported FTR through it all. He gives his word that he’ll do everything in his power to make sure fans are as entertained as ever.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Uncle Dax FTR (@daxharwood)

After months of speculation, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) has officially revealed the future for Ring of Honor (ROH) television.

Coming off of a heavily praised PPV event on Saturday (Final Battle), AEW released a press release on Sunday morning that officially announced ROH television will begin streaming early next year as part of the relaunched HonorClub streaming service. Tony Khan had mentioned during the Final Battle press scrum that the service, which was previously run by ROH prior to Khan purchasing the company, would be relaunching.

The HonorClub service will also feature the vast library of ROH archival footage, as well as ROH PPV events on a 90-day delay. In order to watch upcoming ROH PPV events live, fans will still need to order them through B/R Live.

The HonorClub service will cost $9.99 per month and is already showing up via the ROH app on iOS, Android, Roku, and Amazon Fire.

Below is AEW’s official announcement:

Tony Khan Announces Relaunch of Ring of Honor’s HonorClub Platform

More than two decades of Ring of Honor Content Now Available For $9.99/Month, With New PPV and TV Content To Come

“December 11, 2022 – On the heels of a momentous Ring of Honor Final Battle pay-per-view from College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, Tony Khan announced that the company’s HonorClub streaming platform has officially relaunched, featuring more than 2,500 hours of premium professional wrestling content dating back to 2002, with new weekly television episodes coming soon to the platform.

“The announcement was made during an afternoon filled with title changes, as Claudio Castagnoli regained the ROH World Championship from Chris Jericho, Athena taking the ROH Women’s World Championship from Mercedes Martinez, The Briscoes winning the ROH World Tag Team Championships back from FTR in their third matchup this year, Wheeler Yuta winning the ROH Pure Championship back from Daniel Garcia and the Gates of Agony defeating Dalton Castle & The Boys for the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championships.

“Fans can sign up immediately for HonorClub for just $9.99 per month by visiting WatchROH.com. HonorClub is accessible via the ROH app on iOS, Android, Roku and Amazon FireTV.

“The relaunched platform features updated functionality, where fans will be able to enjoy thousands of hours of Ring of Honor content including classic matches from the full ROH television archive and hundreds of pay-per-views and special events. Khan also announced plans for a weekly ROH television show to be solidified at the top of next year. Pay-per-view events will be available for viewing on HonorClub 90 days after they happen live, with live broadcasts still airing via Bleacher Report.”

AEW Final Battle 2022 aired live today in College Park Center in Arlington, Texas. There were six title matches on the card and several new champions were crowned.

• 8 Best Moments from ROH Final Battle 2022

Ring of Honor held a media scrum featuring new ROH Champion Claudio Castagnoli, ROH TV Champion Samoa Joe, new ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta, and Tony Khan.

Tony Khan spoke at the end of the conference and he was asked about ROH TV by Women’s Wrestling Talk. He brought up his relationship with Warner Bros Discovery, and said he had a very “nuanced” answer to the question. He said that Warner Bros were not very familiar with ROH and the past two PPVs they watched.

Khan said that he is going to keep the PPV relationship with Warner Bros Discovery via Bleacher Report, but is also talking to New Japan as well.

Finally, he said that they started a soft launch with Honor Club and the TV is going to live there. Khan stated that he will announce when the TV will start on Honor Club soon and hyped New Japan and AEW’s shows for January.

He added that he will have more details after regrouping after Wrestling Kingdom and the big AEW shows in January. Khan added that he will keep Ring of Honor PPV on Bleacher Report. Tonight’s PPV will be available after a 90-day cycle on the Honor Club in mid-March. ROH Honor Club is $9.99 a month.

We have done a soft launch. When I acquired Ring of Honor from Sinclair Broadcasting earlier this year, they had actually done a lot of development work and were really far along with a new Honor Club.

We’ve paid the development cost since then and it is now functional. So now if you go, it has a big library of Ring of Honor content, including the two PPVs we’ve done this year and my plan is to keep the PPVs out 90 days.

So 90 days from now in mid-March you can get this PPV on there. But it is operational and it is $9.99.

The TV is going to live there. There is going to be big participation from New Japan Pro Wrestling I feel pretty confident I can say, based on our relationship, and they want to be involved.

You saw tonight some great wrestlers from NJPW, and also some of our wrestlers have been going there.

So the TV on Honor Club, I’ll announce when it is going to start, but I think it makes a lot of sense for us given that I want New Japan to be focused on it and involved.

Tony Khan on ROH TV

If you use any quotes from this article, please give a H/T to SEScoops for the transcription.

Ring of Honor Final Battle 2022 will air live this Saturday at 4 PM from College Park Center in Arlington, Texas.

• ROH Final Battle 2022 Preview

Two title matches were announced for the PPV this Saturday on this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite.

Dalton Castle competed in the Dynamite Diamond Ring Battle Royale but came up short. The match was eventually won by Ricky Starks, who will face MJF for the AEW World Championship and the Dynamite Diamond Ring next week at Dynamite: Winter is Coming.

Dalton Castle and The Boys will be in action this Saturday at Final Battle. They will defend the ROH 6-Man Tag Team Championships against Brian Cage and Gates of Agony.

FTR battled The Acclaimed for the AEW Tag Team Championships in the main event of tonight’s main event. The Acclaimed escaped with a hard-fought victory and the two teams showed respect to each other after the match. Gunn Club interrupted on the jumbotron with a Christmas card from The Briscoes. They announced that The Briscoes are challenging FTR to a double Dog Collar match for the ROH Tag Team Championships at Final Battle this Saturday.

Updated Card for ROH Final Battle

• ROH Pure Championship: Daniel Garcia (c) vs. Wheeler Yuta
• ROH Women’s Championship: Mercedes Martinez (c) vs. Athena
• ROH TV Championship: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Juice Robinson
• ROH 6-Man Tag Team Championship: Dalton Castle & The Boys (c) vs. Gates of Agony & Brian Cage
• ROH Tag Team Championship: FTR (c) vs. The Briscos in a Dog Collar Match
• Swerve in Our Glory vs. Shane Taylor & JD Griffey
• ROH Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli

In recent weeks, AEW and ROH owner Tony Khan has come under fire from some fans who feel that there has been too much focus put on the ROH brand with its titles and storylines. 

Khan bought the promotion earlier this year and, despite not having a television deal in place for the brand, he has booked pay-per-view events for ROH and used its talent and championships on AEW programming. 

During an appearance on the Battleground podcast, Khan responded to those critics.

The Crossover

“One thing I have tried to do…I think we only have three hours of AEW TV a week so I have tried to limit the Ring of Honor focus on Dynamite to mostly the Ring of Jericho and Chris Jericho, the ROH World Champion.”

Khan stated that he has tried to keep the other ROH Title matches on either AEW Rampage or Dark: Elevation. He found it “amusing” when he saw someone saying they thought there was too much ROH on Dynamite as he feels that having a variety of new ROH-aligned wrestlers has been, and will continue to be, good for ROH business. 

According to Khan, they have made “good money” on the pay-per-views since he bought the promotion, and “frankly, (the money) has been in line with what I paid for the entire business.”

Saturday’s Final Battle is expected to garner some of their best numbers thanks to the main event of Jericho vs. Claudio Castagnoli, according to Khan. 

H/T to F4Wonline.com for the transcription

All Elite Wrestling and its roster’s attitude toward coaching has been a hotly debated subject since the All Out “Press Conference From Hell,” when CM Punk vented frustrations – among a number of subjects – at Hangman Adam Page for not being open to coaching from the former AEW, WWE, and ROH champ.

The latest controversy was from Ethan Carter III, who said William Regal was frustrated with talent not taking up offers to coach them prior to AEW shows and said management had maturity issues.

Several AEW sources said the story wasn’t true and blasted Carter for floating it. One source with the company described it as, “completely inaccurate.” One source noted Carter and James being frustrated themselves at not landing jobs in AEW and neither them or Russo have ever been with the company.

“There was no formal coaching session, where it was something that was scheduled or anything like that. Usually he would go down to the ring to help someone, and word would spread, like, “Hey, Regal is down in the ring.” The source said Dustin Rhodes trains younger women’s wrestlers on the roster. He also said Danielson has worked with people regularly and sessions included talent that appeared regularly on Dynamite or Rampage.

“I can’t believe this is a story,” another source said. “It’s complete bullshit. There was never some schedule you had to be down at the ring and people blew it off, and (Regal) was never going to flat tell someone they had to come to the ring so he could coach them. Regal would work with someone, people would go down and show up, a lot of people took advantage of it. Other vets do it all the time. It’s always the younger women and men. Sometimes someone would work with someone one on one, other times there could be quite a few people down. It was totally informal.”

“Regal would even sit in the stands with guys to talk about the fans point of view, or the point of view of watching on TV,” another source said. “He would tell you about making sure to know how you are looking to fans as you come to the ring or how you would look on TV. He said to make sure you’re always really nice to the camera guys, they’re the ones who make you look good (laughing).”

Regal was the on-screen manager of the Blackpool Combat Club since debuting with AEW in March. Several wrestling news sites have reported Regal will be leaving AEW for a return to WWE and would begin work there in 2023. Regal was released by WWE nearly a year ago.

Since then, his friend Paul Levesque has been named head of creative after Vince McMahon was investigated for multiple sex scandals and subsequent payoffs within the company. His son, Charlie Dempsey – who had wrestled as Bailey Matthews was brought to NXT from NXT UK in August. Dempsey scored his first win in the company early last month. Regal’s contract status is unknown, but it’s been speculated he will exercise an out clause. Regal’s relationship with Levesque goes back to the early 1990s in WCW, when Regal mentored him when the two were tag team partners. The two have been close friends for 20 years. Levesque was instrumental in bringing Regal to WWE in the early 2000s and making him a mainstay in WWE’s developmental system after he retired from wrestling.

Another title match was set for Ring of Honor Final Battle during tonight’s episode of AEW Dynamite.

ROH Final Battle will be held at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas on December 10th. The show has a special start time at 4 PM. NXT Deadline will air later on the same night from the Capitol Wrestling Center (WWE PC) in Orlando.

During tonight’s episode of Dynamite, Renee Paquette interviewed Jericho Appreciation Society’s Matt Menard, Angelo Parker, Jake Hager, and ROH Pure Champion Garcia, as well as Blackpool Combat Club’s Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta in a backstage segment.

Claudio Castagnoli said he was going to prove that he can win the big one and defeat Chris Jericho for the ROH Championship at Final Battle on December 10th. Jake Hager claimed Castagnoli is a sports entertainer at heart and tried to get him to wear his patented giant purple hat.

Castagnoli stormed off out of frustration as Daniel Garcia laughed and claimed the Blackpool Combat Club is falling apart. Wheeler Yuta then went on a rant about Garcia and challenged him to a match for the ROH Pure Championship at Final Battle.

ROH TV & TNT Champion Samoa Joe also cut a promo tonight and referred to himself as “the King of Television”. Wardlow interrupted and said he’s coming after the TNT Championship. It will be interesting to see if Joe defends the the title at the upcoming PPV or possibly at Winter is Coming on December 14th.

A vignette for Powerhouse Hobbs was immediately shown after the Wardlow and Samoa Joe promo. Joe defeated Hobbs and Wardlow in a Triple Threat match at Full Gear to capture the TNT Championship.

Update ROH Final Battle 2022 card

• ROH Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli
• ROH Pure Championship: Daniel Garcia (c) vs. Wheeler Yuta

The first match that will serve as the main event has been announced for the upcoming ROH Final Battle pay-per-view.

During Friday’s episode of AEW Rampage, it was confirmed that Chris Jericho would defend the Ring Of Honor World Championship against  Claudio Castagnoli on December 10th. 

The two originally faced off at AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam back in September, where Claudio lost the title to Jericho, who has held it ever since. This long-standing feud between the Jericho Appreciation Society and the Blackpool Combat Club has been going on for months and will now roll on to Final Battle. 

At AEW Full Gear, Jericho retained the ROH World Heavyweight Title over Bryan Danielson, Sammy Guevara, and Claudio Castagnoli.

The Segment

During Rampage, Jericho kicked off the show and did a promo where he bragged about being the greatest Ring Of Honor Champion ever. Castagnoli interrupted him and challenged Jericho to an ROH Title rematch.

While Jericho initially denied Castagnoli the opportunity, Matt Menard suggested that Castagnoli should get another crack at Jericho and the ROH Title. However, he added a stipulation: if Claudio loses again, he should be forced to join the Jericho Appreciation Society.

When Tony Khan purchased Ring of Honor, many questions remained unanswered at first. Did he just buy the company for it’s video library? Would he be able to run another standalone company? Would Ring of Honor continue to have its own television show and/or pay-per-views?

And while it’s still unclear if/when ROH will get any sort of TV deal, the company has produced two pay-per-views in 2022 and it’s about to produce another one.

AEW announced on Twitter that Ring of Honor Final Battle is happening on Saturday, December 10 at the College Park Center in Dallas/Ft. Worth Texas.

Final Battle will be live “only on pay-per-view,” according to the promo video AEW included with the announcement.

Also included in the promo video were a variety of AEW and Ring of Honor wrestlers, including:

• Ring of Honor World Champion Chris Jericho
• Ring of Honor Television Champion (And AEW TNT Champion) Samoa Joe
• Ring of Honor Pure Champion Daniel Garcia
• Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions FTR
• The Kingdom: Mike Bennett, Maria Kanellis, Matt Taven
• Wheeler Yuta
• Brian Cage
• Jay Lethal
• Willow Nightingale
• Dalton Castle
• And more!

Especially of note is that fact that the Briscoe Brothers were included in the video package. All of these names are, of course, subject to change and there’s no guarantee that any/all of them will appear on the show (though if Chris Jericho or Samoe Joe didn’t appear, that’d be a weird choice). Still, the video package gave viewers a pretty good idea about who to expect.

2021 Was Not the Final Final Battle

Ring of Honor’s last pay-per-view before its purchase was also Final Battle. It was dubbed ‘The End of an Era,’ as nobody knew what would happen to the company after that night’s show. On that show, the Briscoe Brothers defeated the OGK (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett), Josh Woods defeated Brien Johnson, Rok-C defeated Willow Nightingale, and Jonathan Gresham defeated Jay Lethal to win the Ring of Honor Championship.

Several past ROH wrestlers sent in video messages throughout the show, including Bryan Danielson, Adam Page, The Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, Colt Cabana, and more.

Since that night there have been two more pay-per-views: Supercard of Honor XV and Death Before Dishonor. In the main event of DBD, FTR defeated The Briscoe Brothers in a 2/3 Falls match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship. It was, what many have called, the greatest tag team match in the history of the sport.

• Exclusive Details on the Sale of ROH, How Current Employees Are Affected

What will the 2022 Ring of Honor Final Battle offer? Will somebody step up to Le Champion Chris Jericho? Will The Briscoes be on the show?

Find out on December 10, live on pay-per-view.

AEW star Bryan Danielson is currently a member of the Blackpool Combat Club with World Champion Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, and Sir William Regal.

Danielson recruited Wheeler Yuta to the group and brought in Claudio Castagnoli as his replacement at AEW Forbidden Door.

The American Dragon and Wheeler Yuta have been arguing as of late on Dynamite. Danielson has come up short in every title match he’s been a part of in AEW and recently lost his ROH title match to Chris Jericho due to interference from Daniel Garcia.

Bryan had been trying to convince Garcia that he’s a professional wrestler but ultimately Daniel chose to be a sports entertainer in the Jericho Appreciation Society. Yuta questioned how Danielson didn’t see the betrayal from Garcia coming and seemed disappointed in him.

Bryan Danielson Considered Going to Ring of Honor in 2018

It was announced in March 2018 by WWE that Bryan Danielson was cleared to return to the ring.

In a recent interview with Inside The Ropes, Danielson revealed that his contract with WWE was coming up around that time and he considered going to Ring of Honor. He was in contact with Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks but discovered that their deals with ROH were also coming up around the same time.

“It was really interesting. My contract with WWE was up in 2018 and I was considering going to Ring of Honor and I was talking to The Young Bucks and I was talking to Cody [Rhodes] just to kind of see — all their contracts were up with Ring of Honor and I was like, ‘What are you guys gonna do?’ Because even my lawyer, who doesn’t know anything about pro wrestling, he said, ‘Hey, I don’t think you’d wanna sign with Ring of Honor if these Young Bucks aren’t going because they’ve got this YouTube show.

I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, called Being The Elite’ and it’s essentially the driver for the popularity of Ring of Honor at the time, right? And so those guys go away, we don’t know if Ring of Honor will nearly still be as popular and then with Cody’s contract coming up, if they leave and Cody leaves, what will Ring of Honor’s popularity be like? So that was a part of the discussion.”

Danielson added that AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, The Elite, and Chris Jericho are the heart of All Elite Wrestling.

“It’s cool for me that Mox is where he’s at. To me, there was that excellent interview segment with CM Punk and Jon Moxley and he talked about being the heart and soul of kind of AEW and I see him as that as well. Him, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks is kind of like — and Chris Jericho, you know what I mean?

But I see those kind of people as the guys, right? And it’s cool that when I first wrestled him, it was in front of like 75 people on a Wednesday show in the middle of nowhere. Mox actually knows exactly where it was but I don’t even remember so it was like, all of that kind of stuff is just neat.”

H/T: Post Wrestling

It looks like a new weekly ROH television show is close to becoming a reality following AEW President Tony Khan buying the promotion this past March. 

In an interview with Sports Illustrated that was published on Tuesday, Khan stated that there would soon be “great news” about weekly ROH shows. He noted that there will be one more ROH pay-per-view before the end of the year and plans to follow that up with a weekly show next year. 

Tony Khan’s Plans

“We’ll have great news soon about Ring of Honor weekly shows,” Khan said. “The success of Death Before Dishonor on pay-per-view has ensured there will be more Ring of Honor pay-per-views. Our goal is to have one more great pay-per-view for Ring of Honor in 2022 and then follow that up with a weekly show in 2023.”

Although not confirmed, it’s likely ROH’s annual Final Battle event, which traditionally takes place in December, will be the event that Khan is talking about to close out the year. 

Since Khan purchased ROH from Sinclair Broadcast Group this March, he has held two PPVs held since Khan bought the promotion.

Chris Jericho, the current ROH World Champion, has signed a three-year contract extension with AEW. Khan said in this interview with Sports Illustrated that he thinks 2022 has been one of the greatest years of Jericho’s career.

Tonight WWE presents their season premiere of their flagship program Raw, which is taking place from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn New York, and will be featuring the reunion of the legendary Degeneration-X faction, as well as a number of matches from your favorite WWE superstars.

However, aside from their normal talent and staff there are two unusual presences. According to PW Insider, former ROH stars Vincent and Dutch (aka Bill Carr) are backstage ahead of tonight’s show. The report does not mention whether the two men will be used on programming or if they are just visiting friends backstage.

Vincent and Dutch were both members of the group known a The Righteous, and held ROH Six-man tag team gold together. While that was Dutch’s only title reign in ROH Vincent held the six-man title on four separate occasions.

Dutch was actually signed to a WWE development contract back in 2010, and worked for the company’s FCW brand, which would eventually morph into NXT. He would be released in 2011 and began working steadily on the indies before making his way to Ring of Honor.

Vincent just finished up a run in IMPACT Wrestling as a member of the Honor No More group.

Stay tuned for more backstage updates.

Tony Khan is the proud owner of an “insignificant, off-the-radar, unknown” brand, according to Eric Bischoff.

In March, Khan made a rare appearance on AEW Dynamite to announce his purchase of Ring of Honor, the second wrestling promotion in Khan’s collection.

Since then, ROH has had two events, Supercard of Honor XV and Death Before Dishonor, and their titles regularly appear on AEW programming.

Insignificant

Eric Bischoff has been highly critical of Khan’s work, despite previously appearing on AEW programming.

On his ‘Strictly Business’ podcast, Bischoff said that Khan made a mistake in his purchase of Ring of Honor (via 411Mania.)

“How many YouTube viewers did Ring of Honor get before they were purchased? You’re talking about tens of thousands, maybe? It was an insignificant, off-the-radar, unknown brand, with the exception of the most active of the internet wrestling community who sought it out.

“an insignificant, off-the-radar, unknown brand.”

Eric Bischoff’s scathing review of Ring of Honor.

“The library was worth almost nothing. A lot of that library is so poorly produced it doesn’t lend itself to a premium streaming platform.”

TV Deal

While Ring of Honor talent appear on AEW programming, ROH is yet to have a TV deal of his own.

In the past, Khan has said he is working hard on securing a deal for Ring of Honor, but there’s no word on when a deal will be reached.

There is a belief among some that Chris Jericho’s recent ROH World Title win is part of trying to reach a deal, after Jericho spoke recently about his star-power helping AEW’s TV efforts in 2019.

AEW’s roster is reportedly set to grow after Bandido was offered a contract following this week’s episode on Dynamite.

During the show, Bandido took on Ring of Honor World Champion Chris Jericho in a losing effort.

Jericho has vowed to defeat every former ROH World Champion, and has his offer accepted by former Champion Davey Richards.

The Offer

Bandido may have come up short against Jericho during Dynamite, but he impressed the right people behind the scenes.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Bandido, a former ROH World Champion in his own right, was offered a contract “immediately” after his performance on this week’s show.

It is reported that this is a full-time contract with the company, though the lengthy of the deal is unknown at this time.

It was also not confirmed whether Bandido has accepted the offer yet.

Bandido

Debuting in wrestling in 2011, it wouldn’t be until 2016 that Bandido (real name unknown) would adopt the Bandido name.

In 2018, Bandido would join Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and would capture the PWG World Championship in December 2019 from Jeff Cobb.

Bandido would hold the title for 863 days, a record-breaking reign, before losing the title to Daniel Garcia in May this year.

In July 2021, Bandido defeated Rush to win the ROH World Champion, before losing to Jonathan Gresham at this year’s ROH Supercard of Honor XV.

Bandido has also competed for CMLL and AAA, and participated in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Best of the Super Junious 27 tournament in 2019.