The first Ring of Honor show I saw in-person was their first in Chicago (ish), April 2004’s Reborn: Stage Two. Hometown guys CM Punk and Colt Cabana defended the ROH Tag Team Titles against The Briscoe Brothers and Samoa Joe defended the ROH World Title against Matt Stryker. The time was different but everything felt like it led right up to now, anyways.
I kept coming back the next few years, though stopped in 2007 as CM Punk’s move to WWE provided a more digestible journey – one that, following his 7-year absence from wrestling altogether, brought him to AEW last year. During all that time, ROH chugged along. Ups and downs were had but no ups were enough to reel me back as a paying customer. It seemed that way for a lot of people, enough so that it felt like a formality when, at the end of 2021, ROH announced they were going on hiatus. Then in March, AEW’s Tony Khan announced he was buying ROH.
What did that mean? The next few months were about finding out, but mostly branding, a tape library, and talent contracts. Or talent agreements? Something with signatures. The possibilities were exciting while the reality tended to be, like, business stuff and interpersonal relationships and shit.
ROH was reborn (again) at April’s Supercard of Honor, this time in Khan’s vision as AEW regulars mostly won ROH championships from ROH talent. Next was Death Before Dishonor 2022, from Lowell, MA. The Briscoe Brothers were again challenging for the ROH Tag Team Titles, now held by AEW’s FTR. Jonathan Gresham was defending the ROH World Title too, though that was more complex.
Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman were on the call and seemed so jazzed to be there, maybe not for the talent of Ring of Honor but just to be promoting something – anything. Six title matches! Plus, brother vs. brother, a historic bout..
0. Colt Cabana vs. Anthony Henry w/ JD Drake
Dare I say, in this place I say things all the time, ROH Icon™ Colt Cabana was the perfect guy to open this (pre) show. If not for wrestling then at least for warmth and nostalgia. The Workhorsemen worked together and 40+ years old Cabana can still charm a crowd and nail a freakin’ moonsault. **
0. Shinobi Shadow Squad (Eli Isom & Cheeseburger) vs. The Trustbusters (Ari Daivari & Slim J)
I know none of the references or circumstances that have brought Slim J and Ari(ya) Daivari together as a team, but their theme song is wonderful and they provided fine background material as Cheeseburger and his trainee showcased some moves from around the world. **
0. Blake Christian, Tony Deppen & Alex Zayne vs. Brian Cage & Gates of Agony (Kaun & Toa Liona) w/ Prince Nana
Just like early in his Team Taz run, I can’t tell if Brian Cage playing a face while tagged with heels is on purpose or not. Either way it didn’t help the wrestling match, nor did the pre-taped interview prior establishing that Tully Blanchard Enterprises – recently joined by the ROH World Champion himself – was now Prince Nana’s Embassy. Nana is such a good promo that he willed the scenario into making sense, even if it seemed a little… hasty. Sudden. Awkward.
The match itself was a 6-man tag where Blake Christian and Alex Zayne showed out and the rest of the guys just seemed around for it. ***
0. Willow Nightingale vs. Allysin Kay
One’s infectious joy is another’s hysteria, but let me tell you this about Willow Nightingale’s theme song, entrance, and overall presence: that is some game-changing infectious joy. The energy didn’t stay with them all the way to the end, but there was a heel and a babyface and some real nasty chops. **
1. ROH World Title: Jonathan Gresham [c] w/ Prince Nana vs. Claudio Castagnoli w/ William Regal
The company I work for laid people off last week. A guy in charge explained it, then he himself quit but kayfabed the reason before signing off the meeting. Business is terrible but in some cases it’s funny as hell.
I’d seen like four Jonathan Gresham matches before this. He was talented, one of those wrestlers who really wrestled, with a proficiency in technical wrestling that offset a shorter stature and allowed him to not only be credible against bigger opponents but climb the wrestling ranks enough that it also felt like a formality when he won the ROH World Title at what seemed like it was going to be ROH’s last show.
Six months later he was still champion and going into Death Before Dishonor facing an opponent named just a week prior: Claudio Castagnoli, a foot plus taller with miles more in name recognition. Just a week before that Gresham – up until this point playing a Good Guy on AEW TV – had turned heel to join Tully Blanchard Enterprises, which right before this show became another thing entirely.
Pro wrestling teeters the line between terrible and funny for reasons you can find just browsing around here or anywhere on the Internet, really. To the spectator it can’t possibly be all that serious — I mean, did you just read all that? This is ridiculous. I haven’t even mentioned that Gresham’s nickname is “The Octopus” and he wears an octopus mask to the ring. None of it seems like it should be serious at all, unless it is one’s livelihood — their everyday, their employer. It’s tough to make a judgment on right or wrong when it’s cloaked in all that, tempting as it may be to do either or – at the very least – fire off a joke or two in the midst.
The match had the good old-fashioned technical wrestling both guys are well-versed in, but was held back by all the elephants in the room: the history of past wrestling buyouts/mergers (JCP/UWF, WWF/WCW), the heel turn and Embassy thing, the fact that this was the opening match and lasted a little over 10 minutes. Their approach of having Gresham work over the taller Claudio’s leg visually just looked ridiculous too. Sometimes it seemed like Cesaro had to make more of an effort to allow a move to connect, and the crowd wasn’t biting until he started throwing suplexes and uppercuts started coming. Claudio became ROH Champ, and Gresham apparently quit after the show. Good, awkward-ass match. ***1/4
2. ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Title: The Righteous (Vincent, Bateman & Dutch) [c] w/ Vita VonStarr vs. Dalton Castle & The Boys
Death Before Dishonor was held at the Tsongas Center, named I’d think for Paul Tsonagas who gave ol’ Bill Clinton a run for his money in the 1992 primaries. It can seat 6,000 people, which isn’t exactly MSG but the setup looked major for ROH and the crowd was lively most of the night.
But they died for this. They popped for The Righteous’ Dutch somersault plancha but that’s because it was a big fat guy doing a somersault plancha. Dalton Castle and The Boys were rewarded for their unique kind of patience with a win and that got a pop too, but otherwise the folks were cold for The Righteous’ Wyatts But Whiter act. **3/4
3. ROH Pure Title: Wheeler Yuta [c] w/ William Regal vs. Daniel Garcia
The judges for this match were former Pure Champions Josh Woods and John Walters, as well as AEW producer Ace Steel – who opened up that first ROH show I went to in 2004 against BJ Whitmer – also an AEW producer.
So there were judges. And rules too, designed to distinguish the Pure Title as its’ own breed of championship but in reality A) over-complicated, given the eight bullet points listed on screen at one time and B) not much different from the content in the Gresham/Claudio match.
Bell-to-bell it wasn’t much of a distraction from two young fellas who know holds and counter holds and how to fill a match with them. Garcia is particularly good at emoting in the middle of it all, whether panicked or dazed or just being a dick. He first took control by throwing Yuta into the guardrail, a true student of puroresu.
The holds peaked when Garcia used a Regal stretch (with Regal on commentary) followed by Yuta pulling out a Walls of Jericho, then they lit up the crowd with a slap exchange that almost KO’d Garcia before a cradle from pure wrestling expert Wheeler Yuta secured the win. Very good match with room left for hopefully many more epic sequels. ***1/2
4. Dragon Lee vs. Rush
This historic battle of brothers was quietly announced less than 24 hours before showtime; we all love the wrestling business don’t we? Dragon Lee went away for a little bit but he’s back now and did a must-see spot where he followed up a gorgeous tope con hilo with a tope suicida that sent Rush through a table.
Otherwise, for the first 10 minutes this just felt like a below average showcase for two young newcomers or something. They got it bumping for the last few – and that dive through a table really is something. A reminder of how deep the ROH roster could possibly be. ***1/4
5. ROH World Women’s Title: Mercedes Martinez [c] vs. Serena Deeb
There were quite a few singles matches between serious technical wrestlers on this show, and while Yuta/Garcia hit a higher peak this one had a few holds that made those two look like little punks. Everything was a battle, from the early struggles to find offense to Deeb desperately trying to elbow her way out of a spider German suplex later on.
Outside of the main event this was the second longest match on the show, and they played up the toll of the runtime as it neared 20 minutes. Somewhere in there Deeb freaking bit Martinez to try and keep a hold on too. ***1/2
6. ROH World TV Title: Samoa Joe [c] vs. Jay Lethal w/ Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh
Like Dalton Castle and The Boys, it’s about patience sometimes. The patience to stick around. To maintain good relationships. To return a mentor/protege relationship that last seemed relevant nearly 20 years ago. Jay Lethal has a posse now but it still wasn’t enough for his old pal Samoa Joe.
Holding off Joe’s return to the PPV was just good pro wrestling, as was beginning the match with a brawl. It gave Lethal space to seem like a bigger threat for a bit, then once that ran its’ course Sonjay Dutt and the 7’2” Dallas Mavericks draft pick Satnam Singh jumped in for some interference. All the smoke and mirrors led to an exciting finish with a couple premium near falls for the bad guys before Joe retained the title. ***1/4
7. 2/3 Falls – ROH World Tag Team Title: FTR [c] vs. The Briscoe Brothers
Over the last year FTR successfully evolved from a great Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard tribute to one that reads more Midnight Express, crafty cheating replaced with selling and vibes. They’re on a babyface run getting some of the biggest pops in wrestling, and here they didn’t employ one second of a heel beatdown against those dang Briscoe Brothers, who despite being ROH Icons™ embraced the heel role and went after Dax’s hurt shoulder right away.
All 45-minutes were cloaked in serious authentic tag team pro wrestling: chops, wristlocks, double teams and a physicality that was always there but got extra nasty towards the end. The Briscoes got the first fall (1-0) off a Doomsday Device to Dax where Jay immediately pounced on Cash to keep him from breaking the fall.
Further work on Dax brought the crowd down before Cash tag brought them up… then Jay smashing Cash in the head with a ring bell brought them down… then a Big Rig from FTR to bring them back up and tie the falls (1-1)! The wrestling, man.
As they headed towards the third and final fall everyone had a bloody face or chest going, perfect dressing for all the actually brilliant match structure still going on as they based seemingly everything around those first two falls. Among referee bumps and another Big Rig, the Briscoes kept going for the Doomsday Device but either weren’t able to connect or too dazed to stop Cash from breaking the fall.
Cash and Jay slapped the shit out of each other then wrecked themselves attempting a supplex over the top rope, a botch that weirdly felt at home in the chaos. The last five minutes were packed with epic moments on top of everything else like a table backdrop suplex and Dax’s top rope piledriver, which is 100% what babyface Dax would bust out to win the biggest match of his life. The authenticity stayed until the end… such god damn tag team wrestling. ****3/4
Happy Thoughts: A show promoted and delivered for an audience that sort of already has a lot of things being promoted and delivered for them. The wrestling ranged from pretty good (almost everything) to what will be one of the best tag matches all year (the main event), but a clearer sense of purpose (and less awkward opener) would’ve made an even bigger splash. 3.5 / 5.0
