The next Ring of Honor pay-per-view is set for next month.
During tonight’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door post-show scrum, Tony Khan confirmed that ROH’s next pay-per-view, Death Before Dishonor, would take place July 23 in Lowell, Massachusetts. A venue was not announced for the event, but the show will air on Bleacher Report.
ROH has only held one show since Tony Khan purchased the promotion in March. Supercard of Honor was held during WrestleMania weekend, with the main event seeing Jonathan Gresham defeating Bandido to become the undisputed Ring of Honor World Champion. The show ended with Samoa Joe making his return to ROH, helping Gresham clear the ring after Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt turned on Gresham.
On this week’s Rampage, Gresham appeared and seemed to agree to a match between himself and Lee Moriarty. However, Tully Blanchard came in and suggested his men were next in line for a title match. A tag match between Gresham & Moriarty and Tully Blanchard Enterprises was set up for a future show.
Ring of Honor returns to the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to present their third pay-per-view of the year: Death Before Dishonor. The nine-match card will feature four championship matches.
The main event is a four-way World title match pitting current champion Bandido against Demonic Flamita, Brody King and EC3. This will be Bandido’s second defense of the title after he captured it from Rush at Best In The World.
Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham will defend against Josh Woods in a Pure rules match; Six-Man Tag Team Champions Shane Taylor Promotions (Taylor, Moses and Kaun) defend against La Faccion Ingobernable (Dragon Lee, Kenny King and Bestia Del Ring); and finals of the Women’s Championship tournament will take place pitting block A winner Rok-C against block B winner Miranda Alize.
Death Before Dishonor will also feature Dalton Castle vs. Eli Isom; The Briscoes vs. The OGK (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett); VLNCE UNLTD (Tony Deppen, Chris Dickinson and Homicide) vs. LSG, John Walters and Lee Moriarty; and Tyler Rust vs. Jake Atlas.
Hour one will air for free on ROH’s social platforms and will feature a 15-man Honor Rumble with the winner earning a World title shot. Participants announced include Danhausen, Rey Horus, Silas Young, Dak Draper and Brian Johnson.
Our live coverage kicks off at 7 PM Eastern.
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The show started off with wrestlers and staff crowded around the ring to do a ten bell salute to the late Daffney Unger.
Alex Zayne wins the 16 Man Honor Rumble:
Brian Johnson was the first entrant in the Honor Rumble. He cut a promo hyping himself up and his hometown of Philadelphia. He compared himself to Allen Iverson before being interrupted by the second entrant, Brian Milonas.
Entrant number three was the Beer City Bruiser. Bruiser worked on Johnson in the corner before Danhausen made his entrance as entrant four.
Danhausen got double chokeslammed by the Bouncers before entrant five came out. Entrant five turned out to be commentaries own, Caprice Coleman.
Coleman hit a Coleman Cutter on Danhausen and exchanged slugs with the Beer City Bruiser. Coleman eliminated Milonas, but shortly after he was eliminated by Brian Johnson. Sledge was entrant six.
Sledge and Danhausen cleared the ring (although not eliminating Johnson) and were left standing with entrant seven looming. PCO came out as entrant seven and the three men took turns beating up Brian Johnson.
Sledge and PCO tried to go to blows, but Danhausen tried to get both guys to stop fighting. PCO pushed Danhausen out of the way as entrant eight, PJ Black, made his way to the ring.
Dak Draper was entrant nine.
Silas Young was entrant ten. He came in and clotheslined Danhausen and almost eliminated him, but he was able to hold on from the will of the crowd. Draper eliminated Sledge by ducking a kick on the apron, but he was replaced in the match immediately by entrant eleven – Rey Horus.
Horus came in and traded a few shots with multiple people. Entrant twelve was Dante Cabenaro, who immediately targeted Danhausen. Johnson eliminated Danhausen shortly after.
PCO eliminated himself after malfunctioning. Entrant thirteen was Flip Gordon, who came out to his old music and old attire.
Entrant fourteen was Joe Keys. Cabenaro tried to eliminate him immediately, which led to the two friends going against each other. Flip Gordon tried to two sweet them, but he was double superkicked by the Dojo team.
Entrant fifteen was the World Famous CB.
Entrant sixteen was Alex Zayne. Zayne eliminated Draper after reversing his Mile High Muffler submission.
The final four were Gordon, Zayne, PJ Black and Johnson. Zayne was perched on the top when Gordon met him up there, but Zayne shoved him to the floor to eliminate him. Black and Zayne slugged it out for a few minutes before Black attempted a crossbody, to which Zayne ducked and sent Black over the top rope.
Dalton Castle defeated Eli Isom
Dak Draper joined commentary.
Castle and Isom traded chops immediately, which sent Castle rolling to the outside. Isom took advantage and dove onto an unexpecting Castle at ringside to a massive reaction.
After recovering, Castle began beating down Isom at ringside. The match would make its way back in the ring slowly, but Castle was still in firm control. Isom willed his way back into the match and delivered a running forearm in the corner to Castle, followed by a sidewinder for a near fall.
The crowd was split in their support between Isom and Castle. Isom began hitting big move after big move, which prompted Dak Draper to run in from commentary and help Castle. Dak got in the ring and tried to clothesline Isom, but Isom would duck and kick Draper in the groin.
Castle used Isom’s distraction to hit a bang-a-rang for the win.
Taylor Rust defeated Jake Atlas
Atlas and Rust started off at a very fast pace, exchanging a ton of holds and moves. The first retreat to the outside came when Rust locked in an ankle lock on Atlas, causing Atlas to retreat to the outside.
Rust began targeting the arm of Atlas as he took over the match. The longer Rust targeted the arm, the harder Atlas began to try and strike back. Atlas had virtually no chance though as Rust eventually locked in a double arm submission, to which Atlas gave up immediately.
Something was off for this match. It seemed as if the match’s time was cut due to a Atlas injury.
VLNCE UNLTD (Tony Deppen, Homicide and Chris Dickinson) defeated LSG, John Walters and Lee Moriarty
Homicide and Walters started off the match. Walters applied a headlock and took Homicide to the mat for a good amount of time. Homicide would eventually tag out to Dickinson while Walters would tag out to LSG. Dickinson targeted the leg of LSG before tagging out to Deppen, while LSG would tag out to Moriarty.
Moriarty had a fun, pin based exchange with Deppen that sent him reeling to the corner where Homicide tagged himself in. Homicide was met with a fresh John Walters, who applied a chin lock to Homicide. Homicide would tag out to Dickinson after escaping the hold, while LSG would get a hot tag from Walters.
LSG hit a stunner on Dickinson before the match broke down all together. Moriarty had a great exchange with both Dickinson and Deppen, while Walters applied a double muta lock to Homicide and Dickinson. Deppen came off the top rope to stomp on Walters, breaking the hold.
Chaos continued to ensue, with nobody knowing who the legal men were. Dickinson would eventually hit a McCully driver on Moriarty with a Deppen assist to win the match.
Jay Lethal, Tracy Williams and Rhett Titus came out after the match and showed respect to Walters, Moriarty and LSG. Lethal cut a passionate promo about wrestling and the Pure division.
The OGK (Mike Bennett and Matt Taven) defeated The Briscoes
The Briscoes tried to jump both members of the OGK before the bell, but it didn’t yield the results the Briscoes were looking for.
Taven and Jay exchanged a few fast paced holds and strikes, causing Taven to tag out to Bennett. Bennett would be isolated quickly by the Briscoes as they cut the ring in half, preventing Taven from getting back in the match.
Mark had a few close calls where he was almost disqualified for not obeying the referee’s orders, including a spot where he drove his elbow into the throat of Bennett, who was trapped in the ropes.
Taven eventually was able to will Bennett into making a tag, but he was immediately taken to the mat by Jay’s hard hitting offense. Mark and Jay used the same strategy that they did for Bennett, isolating Taven while Bennett was recovering at ringside.
Mark got an opportunity to tangle with Taven, which saw him immediately send Taven to the outside and hit a running blockbuster neck breaker from the apron. Jay tossed Taven back in the ring while Mark went to the top rope and hit a froggy bow elbow drop for a near fall.
Mark introduced a chair to the match and set it up in the middle of the ring. Mark set up for a redneck boogie, but Bennett saved Taven. Jay would attempt a Jay-Driller, but Taven would turn it into an inside cradle pin for the win.
Josh Woods defeated Jonathan Gresham to win the ROH Pure Championship
Woods and Gresham immediately went to a collar and elbow tie up, but it was broken up immediately as well. Woods outpowered Gresham’s attempt at a knuckle lock, so much so that he turned it into a military press pinning attempt.
Gresham would pop back up with little effort and go right back at Woods. They wrestled into the ropes but the referee thought it was too close to cost either man one of their rope breaks. Both guys continued to wrestle into the ropes despite the referee’s warnings, which ended up costing both of them a rope break.
Gresham would apply a head scissors and keep Woods down for a good two minutes or so, but Woods eventually found his way out of the hold. Both Gresham and Woods made it back to a standing base, but would yet again wrestle into the ropes, prompting another stern warning from the referee.
Following a small striking exchange, they wrestled into the ropes again. This time, referee Joe Mandak would take both guys’ second rope break away.
Gresham and Woods exchanged inside cradles, but it resulted in a double pin. Referee Joe Mandak tried to call the match a draw, but Gresham refused and the match restarted.
Gresham applied a leg lock on the ground near the ropes, which resulted in, you guessed it, both guys rolling into the ropes. When the hold wasn’t broken, the referee called to take away both guys’ third and final rope break.
Woods slapped Gresham and applied a sleeper hold that almost saw “The Octopus” pass out. Gresham would find a second gear after this, and began the attack on Woods’ ankle. Woods would retaliate with an attack on Gresham’s ankle as well, but would quickly shift his attention when he hit a Chaos Theory for a very close near fall.
Woods and Gresham had a slug fest at about the nineteen minute mark. Gresham would attempt to use multiple of his previous match-winning maneuvers, but Woods caught him in a piledriver position. Woods would launch Gresham over his head in a rotating German suplex, allowing him to pin Gresham for the win.
Shane Taylor Promotions (O’Shay Edwards, Moses and Kaun) defeated La Faccion Ingobernable (Dragon Lee, Kenny King and Bestia Del Ring) to retain the ROH Six-Man Tag Team Championships
Kenny King blasted Shane Taylor with a chair multiple times before the match. Taylor was helped to the back while O’Shay Edwards took his place.
Kaun and Lee started the match. Lee and Kaun exchanged stiff strikes but Lee’s speed was the story of their encounter, allowing Lee to get the best of him.
Bestia and Moses went at it for a second, before King and Edwards mixed it up. Edwards nailed King with a great spinebuster and a close near fall.
Due to the match being contested under “Lucha Rules”, Lee came in and was met with a powerbomb from Moses. Edwards tried to fend off a three-on-one attack from LFI, but subcame to the numbers game.
Kaun was the next focus, but only King was in the ring to target him. Moses would rescue Kaun and send King packing to the outside, where he would deliver a running cannonball off the apron onto LFI.
King and Moses still ended up being the two guys in the ring after the smoke cleared. Taylor returned to the ring and delivered a chair shot straight to the skull of King while the referee was taken out at ringside, allowing Moses to pin him and retain the titles.
Rok-C defeated Miranda Alize to become the first ROH Women’s World Champion
Alize refused a handshake from her opponent as the bell rang. Alize oozed confidence after she hit the first strike, but Rok-C wasn’t phased.
Both women went to the mat and exchanged submissions before Alize decided to be more aggressive and start delivering strikes. Alize gained full control of the match after hitting a running knee on Rok-C in the corner.
Alize trapped Rok-C in the ropes and held her down with a knee as the crowd tried to will her back into the match. Alize attempted a few pins and began getting frustrated with the referee’s counting speed.
Rok-C was able to snatch control from Alize after delivering a pair of knees in the corner, but it only resulted in a two count. Alize continued to taunt Rok-C after the near fall, which would see Rok-C shift gears and develop a new attitude.
Rok-C was met with a Miranda Rights attempt quickly though, and although she almost tapped, she was able to break the hold with a rope break and slide to the outside. Alize followed her to the outside, but Rok-C immediately threw her into the barricade. Rok-C followed it up with a lopè dive that would take both women out for a nineteen count.
After both women rolled back in the ring, they started a stiff strike exchange. Alize would hit a cutter, but Rok-C responded with a knee strike. Alize applied a Miranda Rights crossface, but Rok-C reversed it into her own crossface within seconds.
Rok-C would strike Alize with a kick, followed by a Code Red for the win.
Bandido defeated EC3, Demonic Flamita, and Brody King to retain the ROH World Championship
EC3 and King went after each other quickly and had a great hoss exchange, but it resulted in nothing after both men tumbled with one another over the top rope.
Bandido and Flamita had a stare off before Bandido tried to hurricanrana Flamita, who hit a handspring backwards and nailed Bandido with a kick. EC3 got in the ring and tried to work down Bandido’s neck with a few chin locks, followed by a few suplex attempts here and there as well.
EC3 perched Bandido on the top turnbuckle and as he began to climb, King broke up the maneuver and looked to capitalize off Bandido’s position. EC3 would powerbomb King shortly after, following by tossing Bandido off the top rope onto King.
While the referee was distracted, Flamita smacked EC3 with a chair. When EC3 went to retaliate with the chair, the referee noticed, which led to EC3 being disqualified and eliminated.
Bandido and Flamita began to work together to wear down King, hitting many of their former Mexisquad tag team moves. This wouldn’t work, as King would eliminate Flamita with a piledriver type maneuver shortly after.
Bandido and King were the final two men in the match. King would immediately drill Bandido with a piledriver for a near fall. Bandido would climb his way to the top rope for a snap-rana for a near fall, followed by a snap crucifix for another near fall. Bandido climbed to the top rope and hit a shooting star press, but King kicked out at one in a display of strength.
Bandido would roll around and attempt multiple pinning combinations, but King found a way out of all of them. Bandido would lock a crucifix pin in, which would warrant the three count he was looking for.
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Final Thoughts: Ring Of Honor’s third pay-per-view of the year was a enjoyable watch all the way around. Despite a few miscues with refereeing and a few questionable finishes here and there, the show was well-rounded and fun.
Rok-C vs. Miranda Alize was easily my match of the night. I’m really glad they gave the women the time to construct a great match, driven by a story of Alize being overconfident. The match had very vocal fan support and it feels like they’re going in a great direction with the women’s division.
There wasn’t a bad match per say, but the Honor Rumble lacked any real structure or purpose and was clearly used just to bring back Alex Zayne. I’ll give the extremely short Rust/Atlas match the benefit of the doubt because it seemed like Atlas was injured.
Woods/Gresham was a close second for my favorite match, but the weird false finish really threw me out of the match. Although I would have been fine with Gresham continuing his reign, Woods was the right man to take it off of him.
The main event world title match felt underwhelming and short. There was a few highlights here and there, but nothing of substance really ever came about.
OGK vs. Briscoes was a fun tag, with OGK scoring an unexpected victory. The six man tag between VLNCE UNLTD and Walters/LSG/Moriarty was good and I enjoyed Moriarty getting a spotlight.
The story of STP vs. LFI ended up coming to a great conclusion with Taylor getting revenge on King. STP should hold the belts for a very long time.
I’ve introduced a pay-per-view scale in order to let you know if the show is worth your time or not. The scale is as followed:
Buy The PPV (twice)
Buy The PPV (only once)
Watch It On HonorClub
Watch YouTube Clips
Avoid At All Costs
ROH Death Before Dishonor 2021 gets a: Buy The PPV (only once)
Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole (Austin Jenkins), Ruby Soho (Dori Prange) and Minoru Suzuki were all unannounced surprises on AEW’s All Out on 9/5 from the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, IL.
The show may end up historical and certainly felt like it was historic in the building. It felt it just as much if not more watching on television with the announcers soundtrack. In the days that have passed, many have talked about it as the best U.S.-based PPV show in history and it has to be in the discussion. There have been a few better shows judged strictly by match quality, and it’s too soon to ascertain anything long-term of what it means. Short-term it led to Dynamite beating Raw for the first time ever same day in the same week.
But when you consider atmosphere, news value, crowd, announcing match depth and creativity, it’s a hard one to beat.
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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking about the ROH Death Before Dishonor PPV and the rest of the week’s news. We have a show up today with Garrett Gonzalez talking about all the week’s news including maximizing the value of the AEW title and its acquisitions, what is and isn’t significant about the ratings and AEW PPV number, the Triller show and more.
As far as Google trends for the week, Belfort vs. Holyfield did 500,000 searches for third place last night which is much lower than the freak show fights have been doing so this probably didn’t do the freak show numbers the other shows have done. Tito Ortiz for getting knocked out was No 8 with 200,000 searches. The only other top 20 number of the week related to combat sports was HHH on Wednesday due to his health issue being No. 15 with 50,000.
Sean Gannon, a Boston police officer who had short-term notoriety from winning a brutal PPV street fight with Kimbo Slice, passed away this weekend. He fought one fight for the UFC, losing to Brandon Lee Hinkle. Gannon vs. Kimbo, which Gannon won via knockout when they did a 30 count for a knockout in an unsanctioned real bare knuckle boxing street fight, was one of the most debated topics on the MMA internet years ago.
ROH Death Before Dishonor tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern tonight on Honor Club and FITE
Honor Rumble (Danhausen,Beer City Bruiser, PJ Black, Dak Draper, Rey Horus, Brian Johnson, Joe Keys, Brawler Milonas, Sledge, Silas Young plus five others to be announced for an ROH title shot.
Dalton Castle vs. Eli Isom
Tony Deppen & Homicide & Chris Dickson vs. LSG & Lee Moriarty & John Walters
Jake Atlas vs. Taylor Rust
Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Mike Bennett & Matt Taven
Shane Taylor & Kaun & Moses vs. Kenny King & Dragon Lee & Bestia del Ring for six-man titles
Jonathan Gresham vs. Josh Woods for Pure title
Rok-C vs. Miranda Alize for women’s title
Bandido vs. Demonic Flamita vs. Brody King vs. EC 3 in an elimination match for the ROH title
PCO gave notice to ROH that he wouldn’t be returning after his contract ends on 11/30. He will work through the end of his current contract. (thanks to Betrand Hebert)
Jake Shannon is promoting competitive actual wrestling or grappling by using pro wrestling rules as was the dream of Billy Robinson and Karl Gotch, on 9/24 at the Watering Bowl in Denver. There will be a tag team match and singles matches on the show. For more info go to www.scientificwrestling.com
In a nice political move, AAA gave permission for La Hiedra to appear at the 9/17 CMLL ceremony honoring Sangre Chicana at Arena Mexico.
WWE
At the Madison Square Garden show on Friday night, they played the NXT 30 second commercial for the rebranding and the crowd booed.
They also aired a promo for WWE on Peacock which included a new season of the WWE Ruthless Aggression video and promotion for more documentaries that had been on hold, so they are going back to finishing them.
AEW
The company has opened up more sections at Arthur Ashe Stadium so they should be above 19,000 fans at the show. They aren’t there yet but have topped 18,000.
UFC
An update on International Fight Week. On 9/23, the UFC Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place at the Park Theater inside the MGM Grand Hotel hosted by Jon Anik. The Park and Toshiba Plaza will host the two-day Fan Experience on Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will also be official parties at Resorts World in Las Vegas on Friday and Saturday. There will be a pool party at Ayu Dayclub at 11a.m..There will be a closed-circuit viewing party for UFC 266 at Redtail at 5:30 p.m. and an after show party at 10:30 p.m.. at Zouk Nightclub.
Jim Miller tested positive for COVID-19 and has pulled out of this coming Saturday’s fight with Nikolas Motta. He hopes to fight in early October. Miller noted he’s had 50 fights and this is the first time he’s ever pulled out.
Josh Parisian vs. Don’Tale Mayes has been added to a 12/18 show.
OTHER NOTES
Jake Atlas made a surprise appearance on Friday’s West Coast Pro show in South San Francisco, saving his friend Starboy Charlie who was being double-teamed by the father-and-son duo of Big Ugly JD Bishop & Titus Alexander. This leads to Atlas & Charlie vs. Bishop & Alexander on 10/8, a show headlined by Minoru Suzuki vs. Daniel Garcia. Yuya Uemura wrestled Vinny Massaro on Friday’s show. AJ Gray pinned Hammerstone to win the West Coast Pro title and Levi Shapiro pinned Jacob Fatu after a lariat.
Stardom Grand Prix results from today in Sendai: Utami Hayashishita b Lady C (non-tourney), Mina Shirakawa b Waka Tsukiyama (non-tourney), Natsupoi b Mai Sakurai (non-tourney), Takumi Iroha b Ruaka (blue block), Momo Watanabe b Koguma (red block), Tam Nakano b AZM (blue), Syuri b Unagi Sayaka (blue), Saya Kamitani b Maika (blue)
Atsushi Onita vs. Matt Tremont for H2O Wrestling, Tremont’s promotion, is set for Halloween night in Trenton, NJ at the Trenton Thunder baseball stadium.
Cage Fury Fighting Championships, the promotion that C.M. Punk announces for, returns to Parx Casino in Bensalem, PA on 10.2 with Jonathan Piersma (3-0) vs. Kris Vereen (5-0) at the Xcite Center.
Defy Wrestling runs 9/29 in Seattle at Washington Hall, 10/9 in Portland, OR at the Kliever Armory, 10/14 in Los Angeles,and The Lodge Room in Highland Parks. Eddie Kingston will be the headliner on all three shows
Benson Henderson vs Brent Primus has been added to the 10/16 Showtime card The card also features Vadim Nemkov vs Anthony Rumble Johnson for the light heavyweight title in the Grand Prix tournament and Ryan Bader vs. Corey Anderson in a light heavyweight Grand Prix tournament semifinal match.
StocktonCon in Stockton, CA is taking place today with Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Sean Waltman, Booker T, Jerry Lawler and Lisa Varon at the Stockton Arena. There will be panel discussion as well.
Pro Wrestling Phoenix from Thursday night in Omaha, NE: Pat Powers b Omar Pacheco-DQ, Preston Maxwell b Kit Sackett, Moonshine Russell b Xander McIntosh, Seto Kobara & Tim Boston b Paul Daniels & Joey Daniels and Brandon Nytroe & Tommy Douglas, Pat Powers b Manford Zablinski, Nino Hachet b Purple, El Bigote b Logan Ocean, Brett Bishop b Pat Powers-COR. Next show is 10/14 at the Waiting Room Lounge in Omaha.
EPW from last night in Perth, Western Australia: Taylor King b Lucas Fantasia, James Hartness b Great George, Ryan Ellen & Jordan Bishop b Mr Thompson & Antonio Corrado, Joel Hagan b Steve Norsk, Joel Hagan b Cameraman, Joel Hagan b Edith Night, Jesse Lambert & Gavin McGavin b Dux Brothers, Chris Target won three-way over Stella Nyx and Matthew Pace, Callum Collins b Blake Walker, Aaron Hawk b Bruno Nitro to keep the EPW Coastal title. EPW runs four shows a day at the Perth Royal show from 9/25 to 10/2. They next major show is 10/16.
Wrestle Pro on 10/16 in Rahway, NJ has Eddie Edwards vs. TJ Crawford vs.; Aaron Rourke vs. Kevin Blackwood vs. Zach Gowen vs ? plus Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mercedes Martinez.
Gouge from last night in Raleigh, NC: Air Time Rockers b Victor Andrews & Bobby Wohlfert, Waylon Maze b Chet Sterling, Seymour Snort b TKO Teddy Ireland, Kaitlyn Marie b Chet Sterling, T.I.M. b Snooty Fox to win the Gouge title. Next show is 9/19 in Raleigh at Clouds Taproom at 4 p.m. with T.I.M. vs. Snott.
ROH has revealed the two former WWE wrestlers who will be facing off at Death Before Dishonor.
On today’s episode of ROH Week By Week, it was announced that Jake Atlas vs. Taylor Rust will be taking place at Death Before Dishonor this Sunday (September 12). ROH had been hyping that two top free agents who were recently released by another organization would be facing each other at the pay-per-view.
Atlas and Rust (formerly known as Tyler Rust in WWE) were both released by WWE during August’s NXT roster cuts. Rust was part of the Diamond Mine stable in NXT prior to being released.
Atlas has wrestled for ROH once previously, while Rust has wrestled for the promotion twice.
ROH has also announced 10 of the 15 participants who will be taking part in the Honor Rumble on Death Before Dishonor Hour One. The battle royal will feature Beer City Bruiser, PJ Black, Dak Draper, Rey Horus, Brian Johnson, Joe Keys, Brian Milonas, Sledge, and Silas Young.
The winner of the Honor Rumble will get a future shot at the ROH World Championship.
Death Before Dishonor is taking place at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. Hour One will air for free on HonorClub, ROH’s YouTube channel, and ROH’s Facebook page starting at 7 p.m. Eastern time. The main card will then begin on HonorClub and PPV at 8 p.m. Eastern.
Here’s the updated card for the show:
ROH World Champion Bandido defends against Brody King, EC3, and Demonic Flamita in a four-way elimination match
ROH Women’s World Championship tournament finals: Rok-C vs. Miranda Alize
ROH Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham defends against Josh Woods
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Moses & Kaun) defend against La Faccion Ingobernable (Dragon Lee, Kenny King & Bestia del Ring)
Jake Atlas vs. Taylor Rust
Violence Unlimited (Homicide, Chris Dickinson & Tony Deppen) vs. John Walters, LSG & Lee Moriarty
The Briscoes vs. The OGK (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett)
The finals of ROH’s Women’s World Championship tournament are now set.
Rok-C and Miranda Alize will face off in the finals of the Women’s World Championship tournament at ROH’s Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view on Sunday (September 12). The PPV is taking place at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.
Rok-C and Alize both won semifinal matches on the latest episode of ROH TV. Rok-C defeated Angelina Love, while Alize defeated Trish Adora.
To get to the finals, Rok-C defeated Sumie Sakai, Quinn McKay, and Love during the tournament. Alize defeated Alex Gracia, Nicole Savoy, and Adora.
Rok-C and Alize both made their ROH debuts this year.
The winner of Rok-C vs. Alize will become the first-ever ROH Women’s World Champion. The title is replacing the former Women of Honor World Championship.
Here’s the updated card for Death Before Dishonor:
ROH World Champion Bandido defends against Brody King, EC3, and Demonic Flamita in a four-way elimination match
ROH Women’s World Championship tournament finals: Rok-C vs. Miranda Alize
ROH Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham defends against Josh Woods
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Moses & Kaun) defend against La Faccion Ingobernable (Dragon Lee, Kenny King & Bestia del Ring)
Two “top free agents” who were recently released from another promotion will face off against each other
Violence Unlimited (Homicide, Chris Dickinson & Tony Deppen) vs. John Walters, LSG & Lee Moriarty
The Briscoes vs. The OGK (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett)
The Honor Rumble is returning at ROH Death Before Dishonor.
ROH has announced that an Honor Rumble match will take place on Death Before Dishonor Hour One. The Hour One broadcast will air for free on HonorClub, ROH’s YouTube channel, and ROH’s Facebook page starting at 7 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, September 12. The main card will then begin on HonorClub and pay-per-view at 8 p.m. Eastern.
The Honor Rumble is a battle royal with Royal Rumble-style rules. The winner will receive a future shot at the ROH World Championship.
Danhausen is the first entrant announced for the Honor Rumble. ROH also teased that there may be a surprise entrant or two.
The last Honor Rumble prior to this took place on the pre-show for G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden in April 2019. It was won by Kenny King.
Death Before Dishonor is taking place at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. Here’s the updated card for the show:
ROH World Champion Bandido defends against Brody King, EC3, and Demonic Flamita in a four-way elimination match
The finals of ROH’s Women’s World Championship tournament
ROH Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham defends against Josh Woods
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Moses & Kaun) defend against La Faccion Ingobernable (Dragon Lee, Kenny King & Bestia del Ring)
Two “top free agents” who were recently released from another promotion will face off against each other
Violence Unlimited (Homicide, Chris Dickinson & Tony Deppen) vs. John Walters, LSG & Lee Moriarty
The Briscoes vs. The OGK (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett)
ROH has revealed Violence Unlimited’s opponents for Death Before Dishonor.
On Tuesday’s edition of ROH Week By Week, it was announced that Violence Unlimited (Homicide, Chris Dickinson & Tony Deppen) will face John Walters, LSG & Lee Moriarty in a six-man tag match at Death Before Dishonor. Homicide, Dickinson & Deppen issued a challenge for three Pure wrestlers to face them at the pay-per-view.
ROH hyped that Violence Unlimited’s challenge had been accepted by a Pure wrestler from the past, one from the present, and one who is considered part of the future. Walters held the ROH Pure Championship from August 2004 to March 2005. Moriarty is making his ROH debut at Death Before Dishonor.
Moriarty wrestled on an AEW Dark episode earlier this month, losing to Dante Martin. Moriarty also made his MLW debut at July’s Battle Riot tapings.
Homicide & Dickinson are the current ROH Tag Team Champions. They’re defending their titles against La Faccion Ingobernable’s Dragon Lee & Kenny King on the ROH TV episode that premieres the weekend of Saturday, September 11.
Violence Unlimited’s Brody King will challenge for the ROH World Championship in the main event of Death Before Dishonor. Bandido is defending his ROH World title against King, EC3, and Demonic Flamita in a four-way elimination match at the PPV.
Death Before Dishonor is taking place at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia on Sunday, September 12. Here’s the updated card for the PPV:
ROH World Champion Bandido defends against Brody King, EC3, and Demonic Flamita in a four-way elimination match
The finals of ROH’s Women’s World Championship tournament
ROH Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham defends against Josh Woods
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Moses & Kaun) defend against La Faccion Ingobernable (Dragon Lee, Kenny King & Bestia del Ring)
Two “top free agents” who were recently released from another promotion will face off against each other
Violence Unlimited (Homicide, Chris Dickinson & Tony Deppen) vs. John Walters, LSG & Lee Moriarty
The Briscoes vs. The OGK (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett)
Two new matches have been added to the card for ROH’s Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view.
It was announced on the latest episode of ROH TV that The Briscoes vs. The OGK (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) will take place at Death Before Dishonor. Eli Isom vs. Dalton Castle has also been added to the PPV.
Death Before Dishonor is being held at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia on Sunday, September 12.
While running down the Death Before Dishonor card, ROH listed that Bestia del Ring will be replacing Rush in the Six-Man Tag Team title match at the PPV. Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Moses & Kaun) will defend their ROH Six-Man Tag Team titles against La Faccion Ingobernable (Dragon Lee, Kenny King & Bestia del Ring).
Here’s the updated card for Death Before Dishonor:
ROH World Champion Bandido defends against Brody King, EC3, and Demonic Flamita in a four-way elimination match
The finals of ROH’s Women’s World Championship tournament
ROH Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham defends against Josh Woods
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Moses & Kaun) defend against La Faccion Ingobernable (Dragon Lee, Kenny King & Bestia del Ring)
Two “top free agents” who were recently released from another promotion will face off against each other
Violence Unlimited (Homicide, Chris Dickinson & Tony Deppen) vs. three Pure wrestlers in a six-man tag team match
The Briscoes vs. The OGK
Eli Isom vs. Dalton Castle
Homicide, Dickinson & Deppen’s opponents will be revealed on ROH Week By Week this Tuesday. ROH noted that one of the Pure wrestlers is from the past, one is from the present, and one is considered part of the future.
ROH has added two title matches to the card for its next pay-per-view.
The ROH World Championship will be on the line in a four-way elimination match at Death Before Dishonor on Sunday, September 12. Bandido will defend his title against Brody King, EC3, and Demonic Flamita.
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Moses & Kaun) defending their titles against La Faccion Ingobernable (Rush, Dragon Lee & Kenny King) has also been confirmed for Death Before Dishonor.
Bandido won the ROH World Championship from Rush at ROH’s Best in the World PPV last month. At Glory By Honor night one last Friday, Bandido retained the title against Flip Gordon.
Shane Taylor Promotions defeated Bandido, Flamita & Rey Horus this February to win the ROH Six-Man Tag Team titles. Taylor, Moses & Kaun retained the titles against Incoherence (Delirious, Hallowicked & Frightmare) at Glory By Honor night two on Saturday.
Death Before Dishonor is taking place at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Here’s the updated card for the PPV:
ROH World Champion Bandido defends against Brody King, EC3, and Demonic Flamita in a four-way elimination match
The finals of ROH’s Women’s World Championship tournament
ROH Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham defends against Josh Woods
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Moses & Kaun) defend against La Faccion Ingobernable (Rush, Dragon Lee & Kenny King)
Two “top free agents” who were recently released from another promotion will face off
Josh Woods is getting a Pure title shot at ROH’s next pay-per-view.
ROH has announced that Woods will challenge for the ROH Pure Championship at Death Before Dishonor on Sunday, September 12. Jonathan Gresham is the current Pure Champion. He’s defending the title against Rhett Titus at Glory By Honor night one on Friday, August 20.
Woods is the top-ranked challenger in the Pure division rankings. He defeated Silas Young in a Last Man Standing match at last month’s Best in the World PPV.
Gresham retained his title against Mike Bennett at Best in the World.
Gresham and Woods faced off in the semifinals of ROH’s Pure Championship tournament last year. Gresham defeated Woods and then advanced to defeat Tracy Williams in the finals.
Death Before Dishonor is taking place at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The PPV was originally set to be held at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida, but ROH announced that they were moving the location of the show due to the current surge of COVID-19 in Florida.
The finals of ROH’s Women’s World Championship tournament will also take place at Death Before Dishonor.
Ring of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view has its new location.
ROH announced on Wednesday that Death Before Dishonor will now be held at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The PPV is taking place on Sunday, September 12.
Death Before Dishonor was originally set to be held at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida, but ROH announced yesterday that the location of the show was being moved due to the recent surge of COVID-19 in Florida.
“Those who purchased tickets for Lakeland will receive a full refund within seven business days,” ROH wrote. “Details regarding ticket sales for Death Before Dishonor in Philadelphia to be announced soon.”
Death Before DIshonor will feature the finals of ROH’s Women’s World Championship tournament. ROH has also announced that Josh Woods will challenge for the Pure Championship at the PPV.
The 2300 Arena will also host two ROH shows later this month. Glory By Honor is taking place at the venue on Friday, August 20 and Saturday, August 21. Both nights will air live on HonorClub.
Death Before Dishonor will be the first ROH PPV since last month’s Best in the World event.
Ring of Honor is moving the location of its next pay-per-view.
ROH announced on Tuesday that, due to the recent surge of COVID-19 in Florida, Death Before Dishonor 2021 will be moving to a different location. The PPV had been set to take place at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida on Sunday, September 12.
A new location for the PPV hasn’t been announced.
“Due to the recent Covid surge in Florida, ROH is moving the site of the Death [Before] Dishonor Pay Per View event. Details to follow shortly,” ROH wrote. “Your safety, health and well-being remain our top priorities. Thank you for your continued patronage.”
Death Before Dishonor will feature the finals of ROH’s Women’s World Championship tournament.
This will be the first ROH PPV since last month’s Best in the World event, which was held at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.
ROH will be at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania later this month for Glory By Honor 2021. The two-night event will stream live on HonorClub on Friday, August 20 and Saturday, August 21.
Ring of Honor has revealed the date and location for their next pay-per-view.
Death Before Dishonor 2021 will be held at RP Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida on Sunday, September 12. The show will air live on HonorClub and PPV.
A new ROH Women’s World Champion will be crowned as the finals of ROH’s Quest for Gold tournament take place at Death Before Dishonor. The bracket for the tournament was announced at last night’s Best in the World PPV. The tournament kicks off on the ROH TV episode that premieres the weekend of Saturday, July 31.
Tickets for Death Before Dishonor will go on sale to HonorClub members at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Friday, July 16. Tickets will then go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Eastern on Friday, July 23.
“Tickets will be priced at $50 and $30, plus all applicable fees,” ROH wrote. “During the HonorClub presale members will receive a $10 discount on each ticket purchased.”
Best in the World was the first ROH event with fans in attendance since February 2020. Glory By Honor 2021 will take place at Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena on Friday, August 20 and Saturday, August 21, with both nights airing live on HonorClub.
Rush won the ROH World title by defeating Matt Taven in the main event of Friday night’s Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view at Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas. Rush pinned Taven after hitting two Bull’s Horns dropkicks.
Rush and Taven shook hands after the match. Rush also celebrated with his family, including his brother Dragon Lee. Lee appeared at Death Before Dishonor and was added to Shane Taylor, Flip Gordon, and Tracy Williams’ Television title match. Taylor retained by pinning Gordon, but it was teased that Lee will be getting another shot at the TV title.
Taven’s contract with ROH has been set to expire at the end of this month. Prior to Death Before Dishonor, he spoke to the Orlando Sentinel about his future:
“You don’t get to have too many surprises in this business, but I’m keeping this one close to the vest. This is a life-changing decision and a million different things go into it, so I have to weigh my options. No matter what, I’m grateful for every opportunity I’ve been given so far in my career and I don’t forget where I came from. I’m just going into this with an open mind and let the chips fall where they may.”
In an interview with CBS Local Sports that was published this Thursday, ROH COO Joe Koff was asked if contract talks with Taven are trending in the right direction:
“I think so. First of all, Matt has been a tremendous champion for Ring of Honor. He has taken on every single person that’s come at him, and he’s done an amazing job. His matches are just, bar none, some of the best matches I’ve ever watched. And this goes back to his first match back in Brooklyn when he won the tournament to get a title shot at Jay Lethal. I remember it being in Brooklyn, and in the cage was their first match, and the amount of athleticism and artistry and just smart, ring smarts, that Matt Taven has. He’s just been a superb champion. I see an unbelievable future with Ring of Honor. We’re happy to have him, happy to have him as our champion. … So, yeah, I think things are looking up with Matt.”
Jeff Cobb is scheduled to challenge for Rush’s World title at ROH’s Honor United show in Bolton, England on October 27.
The Women of Honor World Championship also changed hands at Death Before Dishonor, with Angelina Love defeating Kelly Klein to win the title. Love was attacked by Maria Manic after the match.
ROH returns to Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas tonight for the promotion’s 17th annual Death Before Dishonor event.
Matt Taven will defend the ROH World Championship in the main event against Rush. The latter hasn’t been pinned or submitted since his debut for ROH earlier this year.
In other title matches, Shane Taylor will face Flip Gordon and Tracy Williams in a triple threat match for the Television title, while The Briscoes will defend the ROH Tag Team titles against Bandido & Mark Haskins of LifeBlood. Kelly Klein will put the Women of Honor World Championship on the line against Angelina Love.
Two first-round matches in ROH’s number one contender’s tournament will also take place. PCO will face Kenny King, while Marty Scurll will take on Colt Cabana. The winner of the tournament will challenge for the ROH World title at Final Battle in December.
Also on tonight’s show, Jay Lethal will square off against Jonathan Gresham, and The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brawler Milonas) will face Vinny Marseglia & Silas Young in a barroom brawl. Jeff Cobb vs. Brody King is also set for the pre-show.x
Join us for live coverage starting with the pre-show at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time.
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Pre-show: Jeff Cobb defeated Brody King
This is being touted as King’s first singles match in ROH. Ian Riccaboni really made sure to put both Cobb and King over as superstars and explained that this was a conscious decision to put these two on first, knowing that the audience “has a choice,” in a phrase Riccaboni repeated a few times.
Sam’s Town always looks really nice onscreen for these bigger ROH events, small but slick, professional. The 6’5″ King took Cobb out midway through this match with a springboard crossbody block, as nimble as anyone half his size. Later they had a chop-off and Riccaboni referred to King’s hands as non-regulation size. Cobb came back with a stalling superplex, then a standing moonsault onto King for a two-count. King responded with a tope suicida and then a jumping piledriver for a very close two–almost an accidental three. Things really got heated from here. They traded snap German suplexes, then Cobb planted King with Tour of the Islands. Cobb tossed King around like nothing. This was really good for what it was. They need to wrestle each other in singles more often. They shook hands as the crowd chanted “both these guys.”
–Brian Zane, host of popular YouTube show Wrestling With Wregret, made his debut as a backstage interviewer and did a small spot with the Bouncers. They did a serious promo about their Bar Room brawl tonight with Vinny Marseglia and Silas Young. It was short but came off fine. Zane is cut out for this kind of thing and I think this was a smart hire, even if it’s temporary.
–Quinn McKay interviewed Dalton Castle in the ring. Castle had a custom teal-and-white microphone. He insisted that the crowd didn’t want to see a fight but wanted to see entertainment. Joe Hendry’s awesomely bad music then hit and he came down to the ring. Castle unveiled a mimosa made from Ecudorian oranges and French wine, with bubbles put in by shouting monks. Ok. Hendry then grabbed the mic and did a karaoke version of a song that basically craps all over Castle. Someone went to a lot of trouble making the custom karaoke music video. I appreciate the hard work. Once the song was finished, Castle threw his mimosa in Hendry’s face and then he stormed out of the ring. This was fine, kind of fun, and seemed to really get over with the live crowd. Having Quinn McKay there seemed to help the segment along, as well.
Marty Scurll defeated Colt Cabana in a Final Battle number one contender’s tournament first round match
Scurll is still red-hot with every ROH crowd. Cabana was nearly was popular here. This was a good light technical match, easy to watch. There was a worrisome apron-to-floor spot where it looked like Scurll really ate it, but he didn’t show it during the rest of the match.
When Cabana went for a quebrada, Scurll landed a low superkick in mid-air. The crowd was really into this towards the end and in favor of Marty. Cabana did a springboard moonsault for a close two, and later landed the Chicago Skyline for another close nearfall. Scurll rallied back and won with the Black Plague. This was good.
PCO defeated Kenny King in a No DQ Final Battle number one contender’s tournament first round match
PCO came out to his new theme music by Jim Johnston and wrestled in a Gary Numan-esque jacket for the first few minutes of this. He used a pop-up power bomb on Kenny King early on, and from here the match spilled to the floor. PCO suplexed King onto the ramp, then a senton. This Vegas barebones crowd was pretty hyped for PCO’s debauchery tonight. He did a somersault onto King as King lay on the apron, but since the distance between himself and King was so short that he almost overshot the flip and landed almost-face-first into a table that had been set up. PCO then “short-circuited” again and dove out to the wrong side of the floor, landing face first. King attacked PCO as he was being carried out by officials, suplexing him onto the floor and beating him over the head with a ladder. King then laid PCO on the ladder and did a running tornillo onto the prone monster of Quebecois. I was under the impression that the match was over but it wasn’t, because King went for a pin and PCO kicked out; the officials disappeared. Amy Rose later smacked PCO in the face when the match spilled back to the floor. When he went to chase her, King caught PCO on the apron with what I think was supposed to be a sunset flip power bomb to the floor, but someone didn’t rotate properly and PCO landed flat onto King’s face/head. It looked brutal but King no-sold it and continued the match. The final convoluted spot saw King pour some sort of fluid onto the PCO, the plan apparently being to electrocute him with a cattle prod that Amy Rose passed him, but the electrical current from the fluid “re-shocked” PCO and he chokeslammed King out of nowhere for the win. It sounds crazier than it looked.
Angelina Love (w/ Mandy Leone) defeated Kelly Klein to become the new Women of Honor World champion
Velvet Sky has been absent from a number recent ROH shows. She was not with her Allure partners tonight. They brawled on the floor early on. Love whipped Klein into the barricade and Klein crashed hard into it. Back in the ring Klein used a nice back suplex on Love, but Love returned and locked on a Koji clutch until Klein made it to the ropes. They traded high spots at the end, Klein with a big fall-away slam from the second rope, Love landing a draping cutter from the opposite top turnbuckle. Klein planted Love with K-Power a close two-count. Mandy Leone stood on the apron to distract the ref so Love could spray Klein in the face with perfume. She hit the Botox Injection kick but only got two. They did a few more close nearfall spots until Mandy Leone interfered again and Love hit another Botox Injection to win the title from Klein. This wasn’t a bad match compared to some of theirs in the past, and both worked hard to put on a good one; the predictable booking is what hampered the quality. Maria Manic came out and destroyed the new champion, Love, as well as pretty much anyone else who got into the ring. She put a few people into torture racks and screamed a lot. Seemed like people liked that more than the title match.
Jonathan Gresham defeated Jay Lethal via submission
Gresham didn’t shake hands with Lethal before the match. They went hold-for-hold over in the first few minutes of this match until Lethal hip toss’d Gresham to the floor. When they came back to the ring they built to bigger and more athletic moves; Gresham at one point landed a surprise quebrada to mute Lethal’s offense for a bit.
The middle part of this match was all about the figure four leglock. Lethal did have it locked in at one point, but as he and Gresham jockeyed for leverage they both rolled under the ropes and crashed to the floor. When Gresham went to use a chair, referee Todd Sinclair grabbed it out of Gresham’s hands. The crowd started chanting “Todd!” after this. Gresham and Lethal started arguing on the floor after this, after Lethal audibly asked “That’s the only way you can beat me?” in reference to the steel chair. Gresham slapped Lethal and began punching away at each other at ringside. Gresham began the double countout until both rolled back into the ring.
The rest of the match was even more back and forth, and the last part of this match ignited the crowd behind babyface Jay Lethal. Gresham finally unloaded a flurry of hard palm strikes, then locked on a varation of the Octopus Hold that got Lethal to tap. The two faced off afterwards and the crowd chanted “shake his hand” at Gresham. After a few moments, Gresham and Lethal embraced. This was a really good match. If this is the end of their program together, it’s a shame. These two are always great together.
Bar Room Brawl: The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser and Brawler Milonas) defeated Vinny Marseglia & Silas Young
Beer City Bruiser attacked Marseglia during his entrance. Bruiser did a somersault senton to the floor early on. Marseglia bled early. Bruiser brought out a pool cue. Zip-ties and darts were also involved later on. Yes, darts. Until Marseglia started throwing darts at Bruiser’s pasty back, this match nothing good really going for it. Some of these poor guys were bleeding all over the place for zero applause at times. After given their tweet-able moment of the match, the crowd sounded to wake up, sort of, and chanted things like “TA-BLES” at the wrestlers. They got their wish later, too, when Marseglia did the Redrum senton through a table on the floor. Bruiser did a superplex to Marseglia through two chairs, which looked unpleasant for both wrestlers, then a modified DDT onto a chair for the win. This was pretty bad.
ROH World TV championship match: Shane Taylor defeated Tracy Williams, Flip Gordon, and Dragon Lee in a four-corners match
PJ Black was on commentary for this. Shane Taylor had a Floyd Mayweather/TMT-esque entourage with him before the match. Taylor supposed to be the Floyd Mayweather character of ROH now. Dragon Lee came out as the surprise entrant, for what reason I’m not sure. Big spots and big dives from pretty much everyone early on. Taylor did a running somersault senton off the apron. Williams looked really good in this. Taylor pinned Gordon with Greetings From 215 to retain the Television title.
ROH World Tag Team championship match: The Briscoe Brothers (Mark & Jay Briscoe) defeated LifeBlood (Bandido and Mark Haskins) to retain
Haskins wife was at ringside for this. You could hear that the crowd started to tire and stayed quiet during the more technical (but no less impressive) opening part of the bout. Again, it wasn’t until the match spilled onto the floor. Bandido dove over the corner and the match turned into a non-stop brawl from here. Haskins chopped Jay really hard win the chest against the barricade. Mark did a wild tope con giro to the floor. The match somehow found its way back inside the ropes where Jay Briscoe slowed things down and worked Bandido over with submissions until Haskins tagged in. In a few moments he and Bandido used some innovative double-team moves, inlcuding once where Haskins did a reverse U-crusher while Bandido superkick’d Mark in the head on his way down. The Briscoes came back quick after this, and as Jay worked Bandido over in the corner the crowd chanted “TA-BLES.”
The teams exchanged pin attempts over the last couple minutes, but in the end Jay Briscoe was able to put Haskins away for good after what came to be two Jaydrillers. Really good match that the crowd undersold, unfortunately.
–Bully Ray came out and power bombed both Bandido and Mark Haskins after the match. Tracy Williams came out to make the save, but Flip Gordon attacked Williams with a kendo stick, which happened to move Bully out of harm’s way. They did an angle with Vickie Haskins and Bully Ray after that, and Ray referred to her as a “female woman,” whatever that means. She slapped Bully and then he put Mark Haskins through a table on the floor. Haskins mouth was still bleeding from a spot in the match before. It made for a good visual.
ROH World Heavyweight Title match: Matt Taven (c) vs. Rush
Taven’s vignette was cut off midway through because Rush’s entrance music and video started playing early. The crowd sounded to be really excited about Rush tonight. Dragon Lee and Bestia del Ring were in the front row for this. This was sold on commentary as “three years in the making.”
They went full-blast at each other from the bell and Rush went for his finish, the Bull’s Horns dropkick in the corner, in what had to be less than a minute into the match. Taven slid out of the way and started throwing Rush into the barricades on the floor. Taven got in Bestia del Ring and Dragon Lee’s face and they looked to be shooting some sort of angle for the future.
Rush returned by smashing Taven into the guardrails on the other side of the ring. I guess there’s no countout in this match. Taven used a stalling suplex hold as he stood on the apron, then dumped Rush to the floor, splat. Taven used a series of dives to the floor to keep Rush out. When the two were back in the ring the crowd still chanted for Rush.
Rush made another comeback and suplexed Taven onto the floor, then unlocked on of the barricades and threw one of them at Taven, then suplexed Taven onto the ring announcer’s table. Back in the ring he unloaded on Taven and gave the crowd the tranquilo pose. Rush used a missile dropkick from the apron to the floor, a possible nod to his brother’s rival, Hiromu Takahashi. Rush later hit a big Jaydriller, but Taven powered up and landed Just the Tip and the Climax for a very close two-count. The crowd started chanting “that was three” over and over. They started slapping each other really hard in the face. Rush then landed two Bull’s Horns and won clean. Rush is your new ROH World Heavyweight champion. Rush and the Munoz family celebrated together in the ring until Taven came back in to shake Rush’s hand. Cary Silkin presented the belt to Rush as he celebrated with his family in the ring before the show went off the air.
Final thoughts —
This was a decent show with a handful of very good matches. Matt Taven and Rush had an excellent match that saw Rush win the ROH World Heavyweight title, and the Briscoes vs. LifeBlood and Lethal vs. Gresham were also strong. Tonight’s crowd ended up less enthusiastic as previous ones at Sam’s Town, and their awkward silences between spots sometimes brought down the intensity levels of the matches. ROH will have their Fallout: Death Before Dishonor TV tapings tomorrow night in Las Vegas, which will most likely expand on whatever the angle they’ve planned for Rush and his family.
