Honor Roll - Ring of Honor recap for December 12, 2024

Backstage, we hear from Billie Starkz, who talks about her Fatal 4-Way match tonight when she is soon interrupted by Athena, who calls an emergency Minion Empowerment Meeting. Athena says that Billie has had her , then says she owes her the biggest of apologies and tells her to lay down for her in the match, as she owes everything to her. She reminds Billie that she signed a contract and that she is a minion for life until she terminates the deal.

Athena beats, Red Velvet, Billie Starkz and "Legit" Leyla Hirsch in an International Women's Cup Qualifying 4-Way Match. At one point, Athena demands Billie lay down for her, but that does not happen when Red Velvet knocks them both out of the ring.

Before the next match, "Smart" Mark Sterling says The Premier Athletes (Tony Nese, Ariya Daivari, Josh Woods) there are "cosplaying nerds in the crowd tonight," and says that if anyone would like to cosplay as actual, respectable human beings and not "fat man and Dork Vader," they can buy their new T-shirts. He then tries to get the crowd to say The Premier Athletes rule, but gets told that they suck.

The Outrunners (Truth Magnum and Turbo Floyd) beat The Premier Athletes (Tony Nese and Ariya Daivari).

In footage from earlier this week, "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes says that The Righteous (Vincent and Dutch) can play their mind games and keep attacking him from behind, and that they do not understand that after 37 years, he has always gotten back up when he has gotten knocked on his back. He says that his family is passionate about what they do, then tells them to keep playing their mind games. He also says that Dutch has crossed a line mentioning his father and his father's bullrope, and while he understands that he trained with him and that he saw something in Dutch after he took him in, he has no idea what kind of man his father was outside of the ring. Dustin says Dutch does not know far he has gone by using his father's kindness against him. He says that he has walked through Hell and kicked the devil in the teeth, and now, it is on at Final Battle in a Double Bullrope Match for the ROH World Tag Team Championships. He says that Sammy Guevara has always had his back and that they will deliver The Righteous straight to Hell where they can rot forever, and warns The Righteous not to mention his father again because it will be the last words that they ever speak.

Madison Rayne beats Allysin Kay.

We hear from The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds and John Silver), who make fun of Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson and James Drake), much to the hilarity of the three people in the background as Evil Uno is wondering what is going on. All of a sudden, the real Veterans show up, and Reynolds nearly gets shoved into a wall. Evil Uno stops a brawl by handing Grizzed Young Veterans their scarves back.

Toa Liona beats "Big Shotty" Lee Johnson. After the match, "The Judge" EJ Nduka confronts Toa Liona, but Liona walks right past him and bumps into him on his way out of the ring.

Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson and James Drake) retain the New Japan Pro Wrestling Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships against MxM Collection (Mansoor and Mason Madden) after Gibson takes down Mansoor with a scarf to the throat behind the referee's back.

Backstage, Paul Wight announces that Jay Lethal is returning to competition. Lethal shakes hands with Wight as Sonjay Dutt sits next to him. Lethal says it is an honor to return at Final Battle, then says that it is imperative that he gets back on top in ROH and wants to know who his opponent is when QT Marshall and Aaron Solo show up. Marshall says his heat is with Lethal, not with Wight, and insists that Lethal face him after doing nothing of note in the last year and that Lethal is trying to rekindle a flame that never existed. Lethal gets heated with Marshall, who says that he will not ask for any more matches and says that when whatever Lethal has in mind does not work out, he is free to carry his bags just like Jeff Jarrett. Wight gets between both Lethal and Marshall as the former gets his hands on the latter, then Wight warns Marshall "Not in my office" before telling Lethal to take care of business with Marshall at Final Battle before they talk about his bright future.

We look back at Shane Taylor vs. Keny King in a Fight Without Honor from Final Battle 2021.

We hear from Shane Taylor, who says that he has been told that he is not worthy of championship gold and that he should know his pace. He says that he and the rest of Shane Taylor Promotions ("Taiga Style" Lee Moriarty", "The Captain" Shane Dean, "Bad News and Tattoos" Carlie Bravo, Trish Adora) knows their place and that they are coming for everything.

"The Natural" Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara beat Eric Dillinger and Josh Crane. After the match, The Righteous (Vincent and Dutch) show up. Vincent stops Dutch, then says that if Dustin and Guevara want to fight tonight, he will let the fans decide, as he is "such a nice guy." He asks the fans if they want to see this match tonight, then says "Well, that's just too bad," as the fans do not deserve it and Dustin and Guevara do not decide when it happens. He says that in time, The Righteous will "ring [their] bell with Daddy's bell," where they will see nothing but polka dots. Guevara tries to hold Dustin back as Dustin grabs a metal folding chair.

"Taiga Style" Lee Moriarty retains the ROH Pure Championship against Matt Taven by subsmission.

Backstage, we hear from Athena. Athena hopes that Lexy Nair enjoys her trip to The Bahamas before announcing that "every porcelian hussy" is scared to face her and that she will forego Final Battle for a Fatal 4-Way Match at Wrestle Dynasty. All of a sudden, Billie Starkz confronts Athena. Athena says Billie owes her an apology and that she did everything for her, but Billie says she has done nothing for her. Athena says she took her under her wing and told her how to win the ROH World Television Championship, but lost it when she tried to do things her own way. After Athena says she is still trying to make things work and has no idea what to do with her, Billie challenges Athena to a fight at Final Battle in lieu of an apology. Athena, taking this as Billie wanting to lay down for her, accepts the match and puts the ROH Women's World Championship on the line, then says she will go on to her world tour.

Tony Schiavone moderates a contract signing between Matt Cardona and "The Learning Tree" Chris Jericho for the ROH World Championship at Final Battle. Jericho comes out first, followed by Cardona. Jericho flips the fans off for chanting "Always ready" while he is in the ring, then brags about having more championships "than the Royals and the Chiefs combined" and being "The King of New York." Cardona tries to butt in, but Jericho stops him from speaking, leading to a "You're from Canada" chant that Jericho pretends to fail to understand due to the crowd having "too much of an accent." Jericho then tells Cardona that he is lucky that he is granting him a chance at the ROH World Championship, as he has accomplished so much in his career and being in the ring with him puts him on a different level. He wishes Cardona luck, but warns him that there is no way he is taking the ROH World Championship from him. Cardona tries to speak, but Jericho interrupts him again and gets another "You're from Canada" chant which Jericho pretends is "You're from New York." Cardona finally tells Jericho to shut up and tells him that everything that comes out of his mouth is "100% bullshit," and that everything about Jericho is completely fake, and that Jericho does not care about ROH and is using and leeching off ROH like he does everything else. He says that Final Battle is the biggest opportunity of both his career and his life, and that it is all about proving himself right, which he will do when he beats Jericho to become ROH World Champion. Cardona then signs the contract. Jericho asks Schiavone to step out of the ring before signing the contract, which he immediately delays in doing before frantically scribbling his signature on it. Jericho offers his hand, then Cardona takes it, whips Jericho into "The Bad Apple" Bryan Keith, and puts Jericho through the table in the middle of the ring before raising up the ROH World Championship to end the show.

Here is the recap for tonight's show!