Eddie Kingston Beats Jay Lethal To Retain ROH Title On AEW Full Gear Zero Hour

The AEW Full Gear Zero Hour pre-show kicked off with championship action as Eddie Kingston pinned Jay Lethal to retain his Ring of Honor World Championship. Stokely Hathaway was on commentary for the bout to provide his expertise. Meanwhile, Satnam Singh, Sonjay Dutt, and Jeff and Karen Jarrett were both at ringside, proving to be beneficial to Lethal throughout the bout.

In the closing minutes, Lethal attempted to use Jarrett's guitar against the champ when Ortiz came out to be the equalizer. Ortiz then struck Dutt with the guitar, which allowed Kingston to take care of Lethal in the squared circle. After a half and half suplex, Kingston nailed Lethal with the spinning back fist in order to secure the three-count and subsequent victory.

This was Kingston's sixth title defense after winning the gold from Claudio Castagnoli at "AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam" in September. Kingston was in action at AEW's last pay-per-view WrestleDream where he defended the title against ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata. Kingston has also defended against Komander, Minoru Suzuki, Angelico, and Dalton Castle across AEW and ROH programming. This was Lethal's first ROH World title match since ROH Final Battle 2021.