9 Ups & 3 Downs From ROH Final Battle 2022

4. Samoa Joe Vs. Juice Robinson's Positioning

ROH Final Battle 2022 Samoa Joe
ROH

Some may have been a little surprised to see Samoa Joe retain the ROH TV Title against Juice Robinson - with many predicting a Wardlow-driven title change - but regardless of the result, the match was placed in the perfect spot on the Final Battle card.

Admittedly, Joe vs. Juice was another bout which had minimal build to it, and thus the crowd response to the match was always going to reflect that. As such, the crowd wasn't all that into the action here... but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Coming off the back of a phenomenal, brutal war between the Briscoes and FTR, the crowd was always going to be dead for what came after a genuine Match of the Year contender. By putting the lowkey TV Title match on after the double dog collar banger, that allowed for the audience to catch its collective breath and have time to come back up for the ROH World Title match which was to follow.

Sure, it wasn't particularly a great spot for Joe and Robinson to be in, but somebody had to be in that spot, and positioning the TV Title contest after Briscoes vs. FTR III was a smart decision by Tony Khan.

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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.