ROH News: Cody Rhodes' opponent for Final Battle 2017 announced
What’s the story?
Ring of Honor has announced that current ROH World Champion, Cody Rhodes, will defend his ROH World Title next against Dalton Castle, at this year’s Final Battle pay-per-view on 15th December.
In case you didn’t know…
ROH’s Final Battle PPV was first held in the year 2002 and is the promotion’s last show in the calendar year. Final Battle is also considered as the biggest ROH event of the year, and is similar to WWE’s Wrestlemania.
During this event, every ROH championship will be defended. The previous years have witnessed a lot of historic World Title changes, including last year’s gruesome match between Kyle O’Reilly and then champion, Adam Cole.
The Final Battle event has been previously headlined by the likes of Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, Davey Richards, and his former Wolves partner, Eddie Edwards, Kevin Owens (then known as Kevin Steen), who battled Sami Zayn (then El Generico) in brutal Ladder War for the World Championship in 2012.
Former Bullet Club member and current NXT Superstar, Adam Cole, has also held the record of headlining the show more than three times and has competed for the prestigious ROH World Title on numerous occasions.
The heart of the matter
Earlier this week, Ring of Honor announced on their official Twitter handle that at this year’s ROH: Final Battle current World Champion, Cody Rhodes, will put his championship on the line against Dalton Castle.
“The American Nightmare” has had an intense rivalry against the former ROH six-man tag team champion for a while now. Following a hiatus from the company, Castle finally made his return at this year’s Global Wars tour where he blindsided Cody and attacked him, after sporting a mask and dressed as a casual fan.
Thus, this intense rivalry between the two men has now led towards a title match between Caste and Cody at ROH’s biggest event of the year which takes place on December 15th in the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan, New York.
What’s next?
Despite having to deal with Castle next month, Cody’s main focus is going to be at ROH’s next big event that is the Survival of the Fittest, where “The American Nightmare” teams up with his fellow Bullet Club stablemate, Kenny Omega, to take on The Addiction.
If Cody manages to retain his title against Castle then he will go on to defend the belt against Kota Ibushi at next year’s Wrestle Kingdom event at the Tokyo Dome. However, if Castle manages to win the title next month then it will be him who goes on to face Ibushi at the Dome in 2018.
Author’s Take
I am a huge fan of Dalton Castle and his gimmick but as I much as I want to see him win, I certainly don’t see it happening in 2017. Chances are Cody will walk out of New York with the belt and then defend it against Kota Ibushi—whom he challenged earlier this month at the NJPW: Power Struggle event.