The past few months since Jay Lethal captured the ROH World TV Title from El Generico have been quite a roller coaster for the champion. He has seen potential competitors come out of the woodwork in the form of the new “Proving Ground” format concocted by ROH officials to determine championship challengers, as well as faced Generico in a rematch and the challenge of “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett.
Thus far Lethal has managed to successfully defend his title on a pair of occasions, once against Bennett and once against Generico with both bouts going to time limit draws, as well as turned back the potential challenge of Mark Briscoe in a Proving Ground bout. Roderick Strong survived the time limit at “Glory by Honor X” in his Proving Ground match, earning a future TV Title opportunity, but was subsequently beaten by Lethal in a 5 minute overtime period. And this weekend in North & South Carolina, TJ Perkins and Adam Cole will each step onto The Proving Ground looking to position themselves as potential challengers for the TV Title as well.
The question then is who will these challengers face? The answer to that query will come after “Final Battle 2011” where Jay Lethal must defend the title, in an Elimination bout, against 2 men who have taken him to the limit since winning that belt: El Generico & “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett! Generico lost the belt to Lethal but took the champion to the time limit in their rematch that just aired on “Ring of Honor Wrestling” TV. Bennett, in his title match, also took Lethal to the time limit and has argued that he should be the rightful champion given how that contest ended with Bennett in a dominant position. And to complete the circle, Generico just recently defeated Mike Bennett in singles competition at “Gateway of Honor” in Collinsville…
“That belt should be mine.” stated Bennett, “As everybody saw on TV, I was in complete control of that match with Lethal and the blame falls squarely on the referee for not stopping the bout when he should have. It should be me carrying the Television title into the Carolina’s this weekend, it should be me announced as defending champion at Final Battle. Instead, because ROH officials are obviously sub-par, I am in the role of challenger against one guy who couldn’t beat me and another who had the luckiest day of his life in Collinsville. So I will tell you all what I am going to do. I will head into the Carolina’s this weekend and beat Cole & Perkins, something I’m sure Jay Lethal won’t pull off, and then I’ll roll into NYC, take the TV Title by eliminating both these guys myself, and officially make 2011 my year! It’s time for a true TV superstar to represent Ring of Honor.”
Can Mike Bennett finally make good on the claims he has made all year that 2011 would be the “Year of the Prodigy”? Will Generico reclaim the belt he lost so abruptly? Or will Lethal continue to establish his reign as TV Champion? Find out as ROH World TV Champion Jay Lethal defends against El Generico & Mike Bennett at “Final Battle 2011” in an Elimination bout on Friday night December 23, 2011 live on iPPV!
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