Chris Jericho appeared on last night’s Ring Of Honor TV show and discovered that Matt Cardona would challenge him at Final Battle.

Cardona wrestled in WWE for more than a decade as Zack Ryder. He has never competed in ROH.

Jericho won his second ROH title by defeating Mark Briscoe in October on the Salt Lake City episode of AEW Dynamite.

Overall, Jericho has won nine World championships.

He won his first World title at Vengeance 2001. He defeated The Rock and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in back-to-back matches to become the undisputed WWF champion.

WHAT ABOUT CARDONA?

Zack Ryder was presented as a lovable underdog for much of his WWE career, but he enjoyed some significant victories.

He won the WWE tag team championship with Curt Hawkins in 2008 as part of the “La Familia” faction with Edge and Vickie Guerrero. They regained the belts in 2019.

As a singles wrestler, Ryder showed off his personality on his “Long Island Iced Z” show on YouTube.

The fans caught on, and he rode that wave of popularity to the U.S. title.

Ryder’s biggest victory came at WrestleMania 32 when he won the Intercontinental championship in a seven-man ladder match.

After leaving WWE, Cardona reinvented himself on the independent scene as a deathmatch wrestler. He defeated Nick Gage for the Game Changer Wrestling title in 2021 before losing it to Jon Moxley.

FINAL BATTLE MATCHES

Also at Final Battle, Red Velvet will defend the ROH women’s TV title against “Legit” Leyla Hirsch.

Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara will put the ROH tag team belts on the line in a Texas bullrope match against The Righteous (Dutch & Vincent).

The match ROH die-hards are waiting to be announced is Athena defending the ROH women’s title against Billie Starkz in a rematch from one year ago.

Final Battle has been the last show of the year in ROH since its inception in 2002. The pay-per-view will take place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Dec. 20.