Kelly Klein finally captured the Women of Honor World Championship at Ring of Honor’s Final Battle. The event took place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York and featured the Four Corner Survival match between Sumie Sakai, Madison Rayne, Karen Q and Kelly Klein.
After suffering defeat at the hands of Sakai in the final of the inaugural Women of Honor World Championship tournament at SuperCard of Honor XII on April 7, Klein vowed to win the championship and become the face of the division.
‘The Gatekeeper’ would get another chance to capture the championship when it was announced that a Four Corner Survival match would take place at Final Battle. Kelly not only took her chance but dominated the match, scoring pin-fall eliminations against all of her opponents to become the second-ever Women of Honor World Champion.
‘The Pretty Badass’ exacted revenge on Karen Q, who ended Klein’s 533-day undefeated streak, by eliminating her with a K-Power driver on the five-minute mark. Klein then pinned Madison Rayne when Sakai hit Smash Mouth on Rayne and Klein booted her out of the way to steal the pin, leaving just Klein and Sakai remaining.
After some stiff back and forth action, Sakai hit Klein with two of her Smash Mouth finishers, only for Klein to kick-out at 2. Klein then smashed Sumie with K-Power, for another close fall until Klein stunned the champion with a top rope K-Power to take the victory and the title. The rivals embraced as the streamers covered the ring in a well deserved and emotional “changing of the guard” moment.
Klein defiantly stated in her post-match interview, “Anger is what brought me here, what got me through every obstacle placed in my path. So now just for a moment, I can be happy, but just for a moment because people are gonna be coming for my WOH World Championship and that is gonna make me angry and well, you’ve seen when I get angry, you can’t handle Kelly”.
Klein has been a stalwart of the ROH roster since 2015 and has built up and featured heavily in WOH since its inception in 2016. Sakai took place in ROH’s first-ever women’s match back in 2002 and made a fitting champion. The title change is a ‘passing of the torch’ bringing a new era into 2019 and Klein is more than capable in taking WOH to new heights.
