ROH Death Before Dishonor takes place on Saturday, July 23rd and looks to be an exciting event with five championship bouts and several other intriguing matchups confirmed.
The show is the second pay-per-view for the promotion under the control of AEW President Tony Khan, who purchased Ring of Honor in May 2022.
The matches announced are:
- Colt Cabana vs. Anthony Henry (Zero Hour pre-show)
- The Trustbusters vs. Shinobi Shadow Squad (Zero Hour pre-show)
- Brian Cage & Gates of Agony vs. Alex Zayne, Tony Deppen & Blake Christian (Zero Hour pre-show)
- Willow Nightingale vs. Allysin Kay (Zero Hour pre-show)
- The Righteous (Vincent, Bateman & Dutch) (c) vs. Dalton Castle & The Boys – Ring of Honor World Six Man Tag Team Championship
- Rush vs. Dragon Lee
- Mercedes Martinez (c) vs. Serena Deeb – Ring of Honor Women’s Championship
- Wheeler Yuta (c) vs. Daniel Garcia Pure Wrestling Rules – Ring of Honor Pure Championship
- Samoa Joe (c) vs. Jay Lethal – Ring of Honor Television Championship
- FTR (c) vs. The Briscoes in a Best 2 Out Of 3 Falls – Ring of Honor World Tag Team Championship
- Jonathan Gresham (c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli – Ring of Honor World Championship
Here are our predictions for ROH Death Before Dishonor.
Colt Cabana vs. Anthony Henry
Colt Cabana returns to Ring of Honor to take on ROH debutant Anthony Henry.
Prediction: Anthony Henry gets the win over wrestling’s comedic veteran.
The Trustbusters vs. Shinobi Shadow Squad
Cheeseburger and Eli Isom team up as the Shinobi Shadow Squad against the Trustbusters, Ariya Daivari and Slim J.
Prediction: In a battle of cool team names the Shinobi Shadow Squad pick up the win.
Brian Cage & Gates of Agony vs. Alex Zayne, Tony Deppen & Blake Christian
Brian Cage teams with Tully Blanchard’s imposing Gates of Agony duo in six-man competition against Blake Christian, Alex Zayne, and Tony Deppen.
Prediction: Gates of Agony are already a formidable team but with Brian Cage added they will be unbeatable and destroy their opponents.
Willow Nightingale vs. Allysin Kay
Announced on the July 20th edition of AEW Dynamite, Willow Nightingale will face off against former NWA World Women’s Champion Allysin Kay during the Zero Hour pre-show.
Kay and Nightingale have met previously in Ring of Honor. They clashed during ROH Women’s World Championship Quest for Gold tournament last year with Kay coming out as the winner.
Prediction: Willow Nightingale has been featured regularly on AEW and will get her hand raised over her opponent.
The Righteous (Vincent, Bateman & Dutch) (c) vs. Dalton Castle & The Boys – Ring of Honor World Six Man Tag Team Championship
This match sees the return of the ROH World Six Man Tag Team Championships. The titles haven’t been seen since the Righteous defeated Shane Taylor Promotions (Kaun, O’Shay Edwards & Moses) for the titles at last year’s Final Battle.
Prediction: The Righteous are a great trio with an interesting gimmick and with The Horror King Vincent plying his trade in IMPACT! Wrestling it would be good to see the titles in effect across three promotions.
Rush vs Dragon Lee
The two La Faccion Ingobernable members will face off in a Battle of the Brothers match that will add some Lucha Libre flair to the already stacked card.
Prediction: Rush wins in what will undoubtedly be an awesome match.
Mercedes Martinez (c) vs. Serena Deeb – Ring of Honor Women’s Championship
This match was made after the ROH Women’s World Champion Mercedes Martinez and Serana Deeb clashed in recent weeks. The two veterans formed an effective tag team winning five matches, but they were unable to perform as a cohesive unit as Deeb’s heelish ways didn’t sit well with her partner.
All came to a head on the July 6th edition of Rampage when Deeb refused to release the Serenity Lock on her opponent causing Martinez to break it up. Deeb then retaliated by attacking her and placing the champion into the submission hold. The bad blood continued on July 13th Dynamite when Martinez came to the aid of Anna Jay when Deeb kept the Dark Order member trapped after she had tapped out.
Prediction: Martinez and Deeb are two highly-proficient wrestlers who will put on a great match. Heading into the bout Deeb is the one who has been featured more prominently on AEW television and will hopefully raise the profile of the title after winning it at the PPV.
Wheeler Yuta (c) vs. Daniel Garcia – Ring of Honor Pure Championship
Wheeler Yuta and Daniel Garcia have been at each other’s throats for months on the opposing side of two warring factions. Garcia and fellow members of the Jericho Appreciation Society, Matt Manard, and Angelo Parker attacked Yuta after his successful defence of the title against Tony Nese on the June 28th edition of AEW Dark before proclaiming he will strip the champion of both his honor and the title.
The match was made official on the July 6th episode of Dynamite pitting the hard-hitting, technical grapplers going head-to-head for the title that celebrates those attributes. Matches for the ROH Pure Championship are conducted under “Pure Wrestling Rules”. The Pure Wrestling Rules are:
- Each wrestler has three rope breaks to stop submission holds and pin-falls.
- After a wrestler exhausts his rope breaks, submission and pin attempts on or under the ropes by his opponent are considered legal.
- No closed-fist punches to the face are permitted.
- Open-handed slaps or chops to the face are permitted.
- Punches to the rest of the body are allowed, excluding low blows.
- The first use of a closed fist to the face receives a warning.
- The second use of a closed fist to the face results in disqualification.
- The title can change hands via disqualification and count-out.
- Outside interference will result in automatic termination from the roster for the wrestler that interferes.
Prediction: AEW has invested a lot into these two young grapplers and is clearly setting them up as future stars. Expect to see a highly technical and lengthy bout between the two with Wheeler Yuta emerging as the victor.
Samoa Joe (c) vs. Jay Lethal – Ring of Honor Television Championship
Samoa Joe vs Jay Lethal is a match months in the making. At Supercard of Honor XV Joe returned to ROH for the first time since 2015 to put a stop to Lethal beating down Jonathan Gresham and Bandido after their ROH World championship match.
Joe then defeated NJPW’s Minoru Suzuki to capture the ROH Television Championship for the first time in his career. Following the win Lethal and his partner, Sonjay Dutt came to the ring to celebrate Joe’s victory before attacking him with the giant Satnam Singh. The trio continued to target the ROH Television Champion and took him out in a backstage attack at Double or Nothing setting up the title challenge at the PPV.
Prediction: Samoa Joe will have his work cut out for him as Dutt and Singh will undoubtedly make their presence felt during the match. However, Joe is a much more recognisable name than Jay Lethal and keeping the title on him makes much more sense.
FTR (c) vs. The Briscoes – Best 2 Out Of 3 Falls for the Ring of Honor World Tag Team Championship
If this is anything like their previous meeting at Supercard of Honor then we are in for one hell of a match. The first clash was a 27-minute classic that saw FTR capture the ROH World Tag Team Championships.
It was the culmination of a heated feud between the two teams over who was the best tag team in wrestling today. However, the result of the match failed to settle their differences and FTR threw down the challenge to the Briscoes, who gladly accepted to finally prove who is the best tag team on the planet.
Prediction: FTR are on the run of their careers holding tag team titles from three separate promotions while the Briscoes are an incredible team. Expect to see another stellar show-stealing affair and one that sees FTR retain the ROH World Tag Team Championships.
Jonathan Gresham (c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli – Ring of Honor World Championship
AEW newcomer and ROH alumni Claudio Castagnoli set his sights on becoming the ROH World Champion for the first time in his career at the PPV. The match was made official after current champion, Jonathan Gresham and Castagnoli shared an intense stare-down following the former’s successful title defence over Lee Moriarty on AEW Rampage.
Post-match, Gresham gloated about his win and recent heel turn before claiming to be the “best hold-for-hold wrestler in the world”. This statement brought out the Blackpool Combat Club member to set up the bout and his second challenge for the ROH World Champion.
The last time Castagnoli fought the championship was in 2007, interestingly at Death To Dishonor V against Takeshi Morishima. Unfortunately, the Swiss Cyborg was unable to unseat the formidable champion at that time.
Now he gets his chance to capture the title against Gresham 15 years later.
Prediction: Despite the obvious size difference between the two technical masterminds this is going to be an incredible match. A scientific wrestling feast for the eyes will take place that will result in Castagnoli winning the title and kickstarting the promotion’s new era.
For more information on how to watch the PPV, click here.