Let’s run through the ROH storylines heading into the PPV.
Ring of Honor embarks on their next PPV for Death Before Dishonor on Friday, August 29 from 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA. Unfortunately, several champions have been bitten by the injury bug. ROH shifted gears to still book five title bouts for the card.
The updated lineup for ROH Death Before Dishonor includes:
- ROH World Championship: Bandido (c) vs. Hechicero
- ROH Women’s World Television Championship: Athena (c) vs. Mina Shirakawa
- ROH World Tag Team Championship: Sammy Guevara & mystery partner vs. Outrunners
- ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship: Sammy Guevara & Von Erichs vs. Shane Taylor, Shawn Dean, & Carlie Bravo
- ROH Pure Championship: Lee Moriarty (c) vs. Xelhua
- Fight Without Honor: QT Marshall vs. Paul Walter Hauser
Barring a late-night matchmaking binge from Tony Khan, this is the current PPV card. I’d expect more matches to be added throughout the day on Friday. In comparison, Supercard of Honor in July had 9 PPV matches and 4 pre-show contests.
Let’s run through the storylines.
After Bandido retained the world title over Konosuke Takeshita in an awesome match, Hechicero called his shot next. Since then, Bandido has won the AEW World Tag Team Championship with Brody King and also won some bar fights. Be sure to press play for the wild west showdown vignette.
The setup for the women’s world title bout is Mina Shirakawa breaking her hand taking the O-Face at All In. The world wants Mina, and Mina wants payback on Athena. Athena came up short against Toni Storm for the AEW Women’s World Championship at Forbidden Door, and she also had a run-in with Mina while in the UK. Earlier that weekend in RevPro, Athena taunted the challenger by mispronouncing her name. The Forever Champ sent a violent message on an innocent wrestler. Enough was enough, and Mina arrived with a kendo stick to spank Billie Starkz’s bottom blue.
CMLL luchador Xelhua passed the test against Lee Moriarty in a Proving Ground match for the Pure title. The rope-break score was at two apiece. As time ticked down on the ten-minute time limit, Xelhua was in control close to submitting Moriarty. The buzzer saved the champ from embarrassment. Next time they clash, the gold will be on the line.
After losing the AEW TNT Championship, double champion Dustin Rhodes underwent a double knee replacement. In his absence, Sammy Guevara and the Von Erichs will need replacement partners. Ross and Marshall prefer to have Sammy in their trio. Sammy’s choice for tag partner will be a mystery man. If I understand correctly, the official deal is that both championships are vacated with the Sons of Texas getting a chance to win them back. ROH announced Sammy plus one versus the Outrunners and Sammy with the Von Erichs versus Shane Taylor Promotions. That means the Spanish God will pull double duty trying to become a double champion.
Continuing with the injuries, Nick Wayne suffered a broken foot, which he put the blame on Christian Cage. Prior to that injury, the youngest TV champion in ROH history was active with a victory over Willie Mack. Red Velvet is still out with injury. Mina Shirakawa won the interim TV title at Supercard of Honor, and Velvet crashed the celebration for a staredown. A unification bout seemed like the next step, however, we now know that Mina will be challenging Athena at Death Before Dishonor.
So, what’s up with the ROH Women’s Pure Championship? Beats me. ROH announced the new women’s Pure title back in April with plans for a tournament to crown the inaugural winner. The field was supposed to include Serena Deeb, Queen Aminata, Deonna Purrazzo, Taya Valkyrie, Leila Grey, Billie Starkz, and others. There has been no forward movement here. That’s not to say that the championship is already dead in the water. ROH has staged a handful of women’s bouts under Pure rules.
The special attraction contest is QT Marshall against Emmy winning actor Paul Walter Hauser in a Fight Without Honor, which is basically hardcore madness. This feud started when QT offered a friendly lockup, then the celebrity got cheeky for a stiff headlock. QT threw a drink in Hauser’s face. Hauser, who is over three years sober, claimed that the beverage contained alcohol. That made it personal with Hauser possessing a burning desire to kick QT’s ass. The silver lining of this story is the return of QTV with Harley Cameron.
That sums of the state of ROH heading in to Death Before Dishonor. The PPV streams live Friday night through the ROH HonorClub subscription. Share your thoughts on the card. Which matches are you locked in on?
Category: General Sports
