State of the Art Ring of Homir 2014 Kevin Steen Vs Jay Lethal

Jay Lethal and Adam Cole highlighted a tremendous 2022 for Band of Honor. Credit: Ring of Honor Wrestling

Few events in the wrestling world come close to measuring upwardly to Final Battle, Ring of Honor'due south premier pay-per-view each year. The 2022 installment, set to air alive from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Fri, looks to continue the tradition of blockbuster cards.

In the main event, Adam Cole will defend his ROH World Championship confronting longtime rival Kyle O'Reilly, while Jay Lethal does battle with a debuting Cody Rhodes. Both bouts are bound to exist special, and that isn't fifty-fifty including the rest of a stacked card.

It is only plumbing fixtures that Cole and Lethal will be prominently featured at Final Boxing, considering the success they have experienced this year alone, beingness the merely ii men to hold the ROH earth championship in 2016.

The stakes for Cole's match are perhaps higher than any other. Not simply will he exist headlining the show every bit the ROH World champion, only he has a long, storied history with O'Reilly dating back to 2010.

That said, Cole has been involved in loftier-profile matchups before at Final Battle, including for the prestigious prize at the 2013 and 2022 installments. Even with all he has accomplished at simply 27 years quondam, he still sees the show every bit his proving ground each yr:

I'm so glad you said that, because certain events are extremely obvious that they're the company'southward showcase or No. 1 big event of the year. But for Ring of Honor, for a company that has so many big events throughout the year, some people kind of forget that Final Boxing is our show, the 1 that we build everything toward.

This one's even more special for multiple reasons. Nosotros're returning to the Hammerstein Ballroom, and my history with Kyle O'Reilly. We both got signed to Ring of Award pretty much at the exact same fourth dimension in 2010.

We were a team for awhile, and we went on to exercise our ain stuff singles-wise, so to say I'g headlining a show similar Last Battle with a guy similar Kyle O'Reilly is a really cool, full-circle moment for me.

Interestingly enough, his matchup with O'Reilly will be a rematch from concluding year's event, where he emerged victorious over his adversary in decisive fashion. Afterward that nighttime, Jay Lethal successfully dedicated his ROH Globe Championship confronting AJ Styles and came out on top with his title intact.

Although Lethal won't be walking into or out of Final Battle this year with gilt effectually his waist, he volition accept an every bit important match with the artist formerly known every bit Cody Rhodes. He has notwithstanding to be browbeaten in singles competition at the event and looks to extend that streak when he faces off with ane of the best the contained scene has to offer today:

I've never even thought virtually it similar that. You just presented me a new manner to think about it. Then yeah, Terminal Battle is definitely my proving ground. It's so tough working for Ring of Laurels because I feel the locker room is full of such smashing guys and we have groovy talent from all over the world, and of grade at Final Battle, our biggest show of the yr, everybody's stepping up their game.

You desire to dig downwards deep and have the all-time lucifer on the card that day. It's getting harder and harder with our roster.

Every match at a typical Ring of Honor event has something special to offering, though Lethal has consistently competed in the match of the night more than often than not this year. From his state of war with Adam Cole at Death Before Dishonor to to his heated clash with Tetsuya Naito from All Star Extravaganza, the instant classics he has constantly produced are true testaments to how skilled a performer he is.

Lethal has squared off with merely most every elite athlete who has come up through the promotion over the past five years and can now add Cody to that illustrious list. He praised the second-generation star for his tremendous talents and feels privileged to have been selected by officials to be Cody's premiere opponent in Ring of Laurels:

Information technology's an accolade, non to put a play on words. Not to downplay myself or my own skills, but yous bring in someone similar Cody Rhodes, he's a star. Right away you take to think, 'Who tin we put him against that the people would be OK with? Someone nosotros know tin become toe-to-toe with him?'

To me, it's like winning the world championship. There'due south no higher laurels than the company having then much confidence in y'all that when nosotros bring in such a loftier-profile guy, bang, my proper noun instantly comes up. Information technology'due south incredible, I dear it.

At that place is footling question that the exceptional Band of Accolade roster Lethal refers to is amid the best in the wrestling world today, and adding Cody to the mix is a major plus for the organization. ROH has built several of its stars from the footing up, including Cole, O'Reilly, the Briscoes and many more.

That said, it should come as null surprise that WWE, TNA and other organizations have been borrowing from ROH'southward talent pool for years. Look no further than quondam WWE world champions CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, who Cole credits for leading the moving ridge of independent standouts we have seen ascension to superstardom in recent years in WWE:

I really think Ring of Honor has been creating this level of wrestling pretty much since the visitor started in 2002. For anyone watching Ring of Honor out of the gate, they knew when they were watching an ROH result that they were watching a different level of wrestler from what they had seen.

To me, when CM Punk and Bryan Danielson [Daniel Bryan] ended up getting signed, they were given a shot because their buzz on the independents, specifically Ring of Award, was so strong, that changed the entire perception of what a coincidental fan looks for in a pro wrestler, considering I remember how over those guys got with the fans. And information technology was not simply the internet fans. It was everybody. They absolutely loved those guys.

A company like WWE recognized there is a market and [that] the audition wants to come across a different style of pro wrestling. Since then, as Band of Honor continues to get the best wrestlers in the world, WWE has decided to follow adapt and take these guys with independent or worldwide credibility and put them on a bigger stage, considering pretty much every guy who has been taken from that system has succeeded and excelled in WWE.

Punk and Bryan aren't the just former ROH icons to have become household names in WWE, every bit electric current Superstars Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Sami Zayn all have roots in ROH.

Instead of fading into obscurity once WWE takes its tiptop talent, ROH continues to create new stars and build them up into formidable main event players. Information technology has been an ongoing cycle for years, leading to the immense influence ROH has had beyond the manufacture, specially of late, according to Lethal:

The proof is definitely in the pudding, every bit they say. When other companies want to make their roster better, they pluck at ours to enhance theirs. Information technology's happened for literally years, and what a absurd matter for Ring of Laurels to be able to say we got these guys at merely the cusp of when they're first starting out, considering nosotros see something special in them and we help them develop until they're ready.

Unfortunately, other people come up in and accept them away, but when that happens, Ring of Honor doesn't cry about it. They merely find new people to take that place. They mold them and help them develop that thing inside them that'due south special, because Ring of Laurels is very skilful at doing that.

Of class, that raises the question of which notable names from ROH fans could meet popping upwardly in either WWE or NXT in the time to come. This year alone, fans accept seen ROH regulars Austin Aries and Roderick Stiff surface in NXT, and NXT's side by side big breakout star could be competing at Terminal Battle.

Lethal would undoubtedly make for an splendid improver to the WWE roster at some bespeak down the road, simply for now, he has his sights assault making ROH equally big as it perhaps tin can be. However, he did not rule out a run with the visitor that ignited his love for professional person wrestling:

At the bottom of my heart, my dearest for professional wrestling was created by WWE. I idolized Ric Flair and Randy Cruel, and one of the matches that fabricated me want to become a professional wrestler was Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper.

So, at some point in time earlier I tin can no longer wrestle, to say I worked for, fifty-fifty if information technology was for a short catamenia of time, the company that helped shape my love for professional wrestling, that would definitely be a cool matter to say. Just I'thousand living in the here-and-at present, and I'm doing my all-time to brand sure Band of Accolade gets the biggest it possibly tin.

Although he held the ROH Globe Championship for a lengthy period of time from 2022 to 2016, in that location is enough more than for Lethal to accomplish in ROH. He volition remain the man to beat in the promotion until another star can surpass him, and that might not exist for a long time to come.

From kickoff glance, Cole plain appears to be someone who fits the WWE mold to perfection, and it is almost a guarantee he will wind up in that location eventually. In fact, he took part in a tryout for them in 2013 during his reign as ROH World Television champion.

Had he signed at that time, it is adequately likely he wouldn't be the same superstar he is today. Cole admits to being happy with the decision to stick with ROH, as it allowed him to develop the character that helped him win ROH'southward most prestigious prize on two separate occasions:

I was Band of Laurels World Television champion in early on 2013, and I went downwards to do this WWE tryout. At that point in time, I had that mentality that, 'OK, I have this WWE tryout, I demand to become signed by WWE.' I loved wrestling for Ring of Honor, but I really wanted to nail this tryout, and the tryout went really, actually well to the point where I actually thought I was leaving.

But and so in that location were circumstances on both ends for me to continue along the path I was going. For me, to say that I stayed, won the PWG World Championship, became a two-time Ring of Award world champion and actually developed this Adam Cole character... In early on 2013, I was just getting my anxiety moisture with existence a heel and being a villain in ROH, I was experimenting with information technology.

Building this brand upward and figuring out who I am, and that all developed after that WWE tryout. So I am and then thankful and so glad that I decided to become the route of developing this character and growing with Band of Honor.

As a event of his determination to stay with ROH, Cole has get one of the biggest wrestling prodigies outside of WWE. Information technology's impossible to say for certain whether he will be a part of WWE after in his career, simply he hopes to make a name for himself on the Japanese wrestling scene start.

As for the here-and-now, he will have his hands full with Kyle O'Reilly in the Final Battle main event for the ROH World Title. They will be in shut contention for match of the night with Lethal and Cody, however, as they face off for the first time always.

Cole and Lethal take played a significant office in ROH's growth in 2016, and thus these 2 figureheads of the company deserve the spotlight they volition be receiving at Final Battle. As it'southward been nothing short of a sensational yr for ROH, this highly anticipated consequence will serve every bit a fantastic last chapter in 2016.

All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted .

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is a Digital Journalism  major at Endicott College. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.

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Source: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2679150-adam-cole-and-jay-lethal-talk-roh-final-battle-the-companys-influence-and-more

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