It's here, it's finally here; Ring of Honor Final Battle. Soon fans of the promotions will see how Tony Khan's first calendar year as the head booker of the legendary promotion shakes out, which, if any, belts exchange hands on the show, and if the clever booker has any other surprises in store, maybe even ones involving Bryan Danielson, who hasn't been seen on AEW television since he was taking an ambulance ride with William Regal.

Will Jericho and his Appreciation Society continue their dominance, winning one, two, or even all three of their scheduled matches on the card? And how about legacy ROH acts like The Kingdom, Dalton Castle and the Boys, and FTR? Will they show that old-school ROH still has a place in the promotion, or will Khan instead continue to put over his guys even if basically everyone on the show is under some sort of contract with the greater AEW galaxy? Only time will tell, but even with the show rapidly approaching, there's still time to make a few bold predictions to try to get ahead of the game.

8. Dragon Lee makes an appearance to help or hurt La Faccion Ingobernable

Will La Faccion Ingobernable beat the thrown-together high-flying tandem of A.R. Fox and Blake Christian? Maybe yes, maybe no, but because there are no belts on the line, the match's outcome should 100 percent rely on Dragon Lee, the real-life brother of RUSH who was beaten down by El Toro Blanco and Andrade El Idolo after they lost to The Elite in the first round of the AEW World Trios Championship Tournament. With RUSH now teaming with his other brother Dralístico, Lee's tag team partner in Hermanos Lee in Lucha Libre AAA, Dragon could interfere to force La Faccion into a loss, help his brothers secure the win, or fill any sort of role in between – either way, bringing Lee back into AEW makes a ton of sense regardless of whether he's feuding with his brothers or working with them.

7. Swerve In Our Glory secure a tense win

After everything that's happened to Swerve in our Glory over the past few weeks, it's hard to imagine them winning any tag team match, regardless of the situation. Their chemistry is beyond broken, their interpersonal connections barely worked even before Lee walked out of their match with The Acclaimed, and even now, it's hard to imagine Strickland playing by his partner's rules, even against a former tag team partner like Shane Taylor, who isn't under contract with AEW. Giving SIOG the win is the right call, but in order for the match to really mean something, it needs to continue on the desolation of the tag team.

6. The Embassy win the belts

Dalton Castle is a national treasure. He's funny, quirky, and a genuinely fantastic in-ring performer who once worked multiple World Championship matches with a broken back, and yet, to this point in his time with TK's ROH/AEW, he's almost never been allowed to showcase that either on television or in video packages, save for his minor feud with Jericho during his championship open challenge.

Would it be nice to keep the strap on Castle and give him more television for AEW until ROH get their own deal? Sure, but until that day comes, The Embassy are relative regulars on television, especially Brian Cage, and allowing him to walk out to the ring with the belt could be good exposure for the brand; better than having Castle wear the strap out to dark matches anyway.

5. Samoa Joe remains the King of Television

Samoa Joe is the King of Television because he holds not one but two different television titles, the ROH Television Title and the TNT Title. Would new AEW signee Juice Robinson make for a good champion? Sure it would serve as an awesome way to introduce him to AEW audiences more than his initial bout with Moxley and even give some exposure to the brand when he returns to New Japan, but for now, it makes more sense to keep the belts on Joe and give him a prolific reign in the way he hasn't in years.

4. Athena becomes a fighting Ring of Honor Women's Champion

Due to injury, Mercedes Martinez hasn't defended her ROH Women's Championship since the summer. Athena, by contrast, works on AEW every week either on Dynamite, Rampage, or Dark/Dark Elevation and has caught fire with a new heel gimmick built on a hard-hitting, dare-I-say strong-style of in-ring work. Give Athena the strap, allow her to defend it on Elevation each week a la Sereena Deeb's five-minute challenge, and use it to build to something bigger down the line.

3. Wheeler Yuta wins the Ring of Honor Pure Championship

The Blackpool Combat Club are down bad at the moment, and depending on how things shake out in the main event of Final Battle, it sure feels like even more sourness could be in store at the end of the show. So, with Regal gone, Moxley about to feud, probably as a heel, with “Hangman” Adam Page, and Castagnoli maybe set to become a member of JAS, why not give Yuta the belt, especially since it would complete his elevation from Dark standout to legitimate mid-card presence? Yuta-Garcia is a feud that could theoretically go on for years, so why not give Wheeler the next win and see how things shake out?

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2. The Briscoes become 13-time Ring of Honor Champions

The Briscoes were the third-ranked tag team on the most recent PWI Tag Team Rankings despite only working 40 matches and having no “home” promotion, as Ring of Honor hasn't been working as a “real” promotion since the previous regime dissolved operations in December of 2021. They are without a doubt one of the best tag teams in professional wrestling regardless of promotion, have been one of the best tag teams in professional wrestling for well over a decade, and, even if they are “banned from television,” they will continue to work five-star matches at every turn even if it's to a few hundred people at a small promotion in some random town. After eight months of FTR supremacy, it's time to give #DemBoys the strap and allow them to go over in 2023, especially since FTR may not even be under contract with TK when Supercard of Honor rolls around next April.

1. Claudio Castagnoli joins the JAS

It would be cathartic to end Final Battle with a big Blackpool Combat Club victory, or, better yet, a second BCC victory after Yuta took care of Garcia for the Pure Championship but frankly, it's just too compelling to imagine a world where Castagnoli is a member of the JAS, so why not lean into it and really go all out? Imagine the tag team matches with the “Swiss Superman” and Jake Hager, both wearing purple hats, in a reunion of their own WWE pairing? Imagine Jericho bossing Castagnoli around like a less angry “All Ego” Ethan Page with Matt Hardy? It's just too compelling to not happen, so let it happen, Mr. Khan.