Former Intercontinental Champion sends final message before huge title match against Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho continues to be one of the marquee pro wrestlers still active after more than 35 years in the business. The inaugural AEW World Champion has wrestled thousands of matches in his legendary career and is now gearing up to face someone he's shared the ring with on multiple occasions, but first, a message was sent Jericho's way.

The Learning Tree is set to wrestle Matt Cardona inside the historic Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City tonight. Jericho and the former Zack Ryder of WWE are set to headline Ring of Honor's 23rd Final Battle pay-per-view with Jericho's World Championship on the line. The veteran grapplers have done battle on ROH and AEW programming in recent weeks as the former Intercontinental Champion looks ahead to potentially signing a contract with Tony Kha's company.

Cardona took to X (fka Twitter) today to give a final push to tonight's Final Battle main event. The 39-year-old is hoping to make wrestling history at the PPV.

"Hammerstein Ballroom is such an important building…both in wrestling and in my career. Tonight I have a chance to make history when I face @IAmJericho for the @ringofhonor World Championship," Matt Cardona wrote.

Matt Cardona included a new vignette to build to his ROH World Championship match with Chris Jericho, recalling when he knew Zack Ryder needed to die. He looked back on defeating Joey Janela in a chaotic 20-minute match in January 2022 at The Wrld on GCW, live from Hammerstein, and the legendary ECW One Night Stand events, specifically John Cena's big night.

"Hammerstein Ballroom is a building... look, I'm not gonna lie, I didn't go there when I was a kid, but when I was there as Matt Cardona as a part of GCW, that was the night where I realized, 'OK, Zack Ryder needs to die for Matt Cardona to live,'" Matt Cardona said.

Chris Jericho and Matt Cardona teamed up at three non-televised WWE live events in 2012, defeating Dolph Ziggler and The Miz. The only Jericho vs. Cardona singles bout saw Matt get the win in under two minutes on RAW in March 2016, due to AJ Styles' interference.

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Updated ROH Final Battle lineup for tonight with Chris Jericho and other AEW stars

Ring of Honor will return to the historic Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City later tonight for the 23rd Final Battle pay-per-view, where Tony Khan's big Chris Jericho plan will continue. Below is the updated lineup:

1. Zero Hour: The Infantry vs. The Undisputed Kingdom
2. Zero Hour: LEEJ vs. Gates of Agony
3. Zero Hour: Hanako vs. Harley Cameron
4. Zero Hour: The Grizzled Young Veterans vs. The Dark Order
5. Mansoor vs. Atlantis Jr.
6. Tommy Billington vs. Katsuyori Shibata
7. QT Marshall vs. Jay Lethal
8. ROH Pure Championship Open Challenge: Lee Moriarty defends vs. TBD
9. Survival of the Fittest for the ROH World TV Championship: Brian Cage (c) vs. Komander vs. Mark Davis vs. AR Fox vs. Willie Mack vs. Blake Christian
10. ROH Women's World Television Championship: Red Velvet (c) vs. Leyla Hirsch
11. Texas Bullrope Match for the World Tag Team Championship: The Sons of Texas' Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara (c) vs. Dutch and Vincent of The Righteous
12. ROH Women's World Championship: Athena (c) vs. Billie Starkz
13. ROH World Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Matt Cardona

ROH will present the Zero Hour Pre-show at 7 pm ET via all social media channels. The Final Battle pay-per-view will then begin at 8 pm ET via HonorClub.

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