#LAWTAKE - ROH DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 7/26/24
A rare sighting for me here on the ROH side of things but it’s a PPV, it’s a Friday night, I’m sold. ROH Death Before Dishonor is live from Arlington Texas in their residency building and the set up looks real, real sweet. I’m intrigued with this sleeper of a card. Shall we begin?
The Beast Mortos f.k.a. Black Taurus killed Komander with ease. That boy doesn’t ever pick up a win.
Mace and Mansoor a.k.a. M&M make their ROH debut and this should be entertaining.
I’m so out of the loop with this product that WHEN THE HELL did Paul Wight/The Big Show appear to be a GM figure?
Kyle and O’Reilly can’t escape The Undisputed Coldem faction no matter who he’s facing whether it’s Adam Cole, Taven, Bennett, Roddy.
Kyle and IISSHIIIII paired up to take on the rarely defending ROH Tag Champions of Bennett and Taven to pretty much no avail.
It’s so refreshing to hear Caprice Coleman and Ian on commentary. More of them on Wednesday’s and less Sock Face and Schiavone.
When was the last time KOR even won a match let alone a match that mattered since returning from a two year hiatus?
In a Texas Deathmatch, Diamante took on Leyla Hirsch in what should be a potential number one contenders match for the ROH Women’s Title at this rate. This was a brutal one.
Hardcore women’s bloodbaths are rare as can be to see, so both women brought it to the max that ended with Leyla picking up a very convincing win after dropping the knees off a ladder to Diamante through a table. Yep, we know who our next #1 Contender is.
In a rare sighting, the ROH Pure Title is being defended! Wheeler Useless puts his belt on the line against Lee Moriarty. If this was’t 2024, I would expect Lee to not stand a chance. But this is 2024 and Wheeler and his BCC faction have been on the quiet losing end most of the time they are on camera. That would continue tonight.
Very fun match this ended up being with Lee getting a roll up and a legal holding of the ropes to keep the pinfall going. Biggest win of Lee’s career by far and a real treat to see this title change occur. Shane Taylor Promotions shines bright tonight with this one.
In another match that could have been predictable, Red Velvet took on the young one Billie Starkz for the new ROH Women’s TV Title. RV and Starkz, along with Athena and Aminata, have been broiled in a group feud for a while. Tonight both women put their belts on the line against the Aminata/Red Velvet faction - would the upset of the year occur twice in one night, would one shine while the other failed or would both hold L’s and go home empty handed?
Billie Starkz is really improving and becoming one of the best young prospects in all of women’s wrestling. I happened to see her before the signing when she was still with MLW and I knew she’d have promise as she climbed the ladder.
Red Velvet has had spurts of shine throughout her years on AEW programming, going from jobber to the stars to finally having a prime time to shine in the Women’s division (of ROH now).
Starkz pulled the cry-wolf move again with another “injury”, but Velvet saw the whole shit coming and ended up Stirring It Up for the victory. Red Velvet is now the second ever Women’s ROH TV champion and this was a much needed, well deserved victory.
I can’t believe the Dark Order are still a thing! What a surprise this was to see these guys even show up to work. A major fall from grace all three have had and it’s remarkable to witness.
The Von Erichs showed up alongside Dustin Rhodes to compete in this six man tag. The outcome to me was inevitable before the match started but because Dustin is apart of this match I could have believed it to go in the Dark Order’s favor.
How aren’t the Von Erich brothers not on a major promotions television screen regularly? Them boys been smoking shit since their time in MLW and would thrive in any major companies flailing tag division - hell even the ROH one!
Dustin Rhodes got a pinfall! Holy shit! On a PPV in 2024 at that.
When the hell was AEW gonna announce that Battle of the Belts was occurring? In probably the rarity of that show’s existence, we will be guaranteed a new (champion) Trios Champion when the Von Erichs and Dustin take on the Undisputed Cold Guys of Taven/Strong/Bennett. Please don’t put those belts on the latter.
In a who’s who Survival of the Fittest match for the ROH TV Title, Atlantis Jr. defends against Shane Taylor, Johnny TV, Brian Cage, Lee Johnson, and Lio Rush. Often times you can be reminded just how stacked these rosters are when you look past the usual characters on Wednesday’s programming.
It was inevitable that Atlantis Jr. retained as he just won the damn belt at the previous showing of ROH so I wouldn’t expect a surprise win from any of the random names mentioned as opponents. Although, Johnny TV actually having a TV Title and Shane Taylor reclaiming a belt he made pretty famous wouldn’t have been a bad route to go either. I think either become the actual TV champion down the line.
In one of two DOUBLE main events, the leader of the ROH Women’s division and one of the main reasons people really watch this company continuously, Athena, defended her belt against one of the brightest, consistent burgeoning stars of any Women’s division - Queen Aminata.
Aminata has been getting so much better with each match and victory, making a lot of us believe that tonight was her night to take home the belt. Athena has steamrolled over all her competition for years on end as champion, plus with her recovering from injury, many thought this was going to be a foregone conclusion Aminata won.
As I mentioned, the results would either see both Women’s title challengers end the night in glory, defeat, or one in glory while one was in defeat. Latter was the case as a cackle of distractions, outside interference, and a clunky looking finisher from Athena secured a victory and a retention.
I think because of all the chaos, this will bring a rematch about soon which can bring Aminata the inevitable W. I can’t see both women not having the belts together after blossoming through the ranks together.
Mark Briscoe defended his ROH World Title against Roderick Strong in the main event of the PPV, which to me, didn’t need to be the main event. This feud was pretty cold going into the match, with nobody even highlighting or reminding us that this was a PPV main event when Briscoe was hauling ass during his Blood and Guts match on Wednesday.
The match was pretty standard, with Briscoe playing the role of Moxley by doing the recurring over the top blade jobs. Interference was yet again the cause of the finish, ala the previous match, ala WCW. The Kingdom tried to cause distraction but KOR and IIIISHIIIII came to Briscoe’s aid. A Froggy-bow later and this match was over and everyone goes home happy.
Who is next for Mark Briscoe at this point? If it’s not a friendly competitive match against KOR, I’m genuinely stumped what Briscoe does next. Brian Cage, Johnny TV? Please God no.
Overall, a solid PPV from the ROH brand. Yes Tony Khan, as per-media scrum, please brand ROH as “AEW-ROH” because we need people to care about this product. It’s got too many hidden gems, great announce team, presentation, and belts, to just go by the wayside. Thanks for reading and make sure to drop your feedback in the comments or on Twitter!