roh 19th anniversary

Ring of Honor 19th Anniversary PPV Preview: A Battle For Ring Of Honor’s Soul

Photo Credit: Bill Pritchard

Lethal And RUSH Will Fight For ROH’s Heart

The aforementioned title matches will both be compelling in their own right, but the main event will rightfully feature Jay Lethal challenging RUSH for the ROH World Championship. This match isn’t just for the prestigious gold title that sits around RUSH’s waist. No, this is a war for ROH’s heart and soul. Lethal, and The Foundation as a whole, for that matter, represent pure wrestling, plain and simple. This stable embodies honor and respect, and Lethal is quite a fitting choice for this spot. As a former two-time world champion. Lethal is often called “the franchise” of the company. More than perhaps anyone else, he is everything Ring of Honor stand for: honor, respect, tradition, sportsmanship, and so on. He wants to end RUSH’s reign before he fully sinks his teeth into Ring of Honor.

But of course, RUSH won’t give up the throne that easily. “El Toro Blanco” won the title back at Gateway to Honor in February 2020. A two-time world champion in his own right, RUSH’s credibility should be undeniable. It would be, if not for the fact that RUSH and La Faccion Ingobernable have blatantly cheated to retain the title at every turn. First, La Bestia debuted by attacking challenger Brody King at Final Battle. Then, Kenny King’s similarly betrayed of Shane Taylor on an episode of ROH Wrestling to help RUSH hold onto the gold earlier this year. Even beyond these dishonorable methods of victory, LFI has proven, time and again, that it doesn’t care about honor. These wrestlers literally spit in their opponents’ faces. They blatantly flip their competitors off, and they certainly don’t follow the Code of Honor. This quartet makes a mockery of it. These men don’t care about some code; they are about one thing, and one thing only. As Al Davis himself said, “Just win, baby,” no matter the cost.

In a nutshell, that’s what this main event boils down to — the Code of Honor, and everything it represents, against victory by any means necessary and success that often depends on flagrant rule-breaking. At least in the short-term, the winner of RUSH vs. Jay Lethal will steer Ring of Honor into the future by being the champion that’s supposed to embody Ring of Honor. In other words, you don’t want to miss this one, folks.

Next Page: Two Buzzworthy Grudge Matches

TRENDING