ROH Death Before Dishonor Review

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August 21, 2016 by Everett Barilla

Donavon Dijak def. Jay White, Lio Rush and Kamaitachi – Four Corner Survival Match For #1 Contender for ROH TV Championship:

The match was a reason I am not fond of muliple man matches at times as really only one or two gain anything from the match, in this one Dijak and Lio Rush were those men. It mainly focused on rivalries that there going in and did not feel like all four men had a purpose to be in the match. Lio Rush is proving to be an exciting talent for ROH, and Jay White showed some promise as well but Kamaitachi came up the worst in the match. The winner Dijak showed his strength and sold the moves he took in the match, and well there is nothing like a 6’7 man spring boarding outside the ring with amazing twists to make a nice moment in a match up. Grade: 6.5/10

Katsuyori Shibata def. Silas Young:

This match was interesting to see how the two men would match up and it was a pretty solid match. Shibata came out strong and Silas’s chops could not impact Shibata, but when Silas took control he really took control and the Plunge finisher is amazing to see and nearly won him the match, but Shibata proved to be to strong for “the last real man” and with a choke hold into the PK sealed the deal and Shibata was victorious. Post match the men give each other a good slap and shake hands, adhearing to the code of honor something Silas never does. Grade 7/10

CHAOS (Roppongi Vice & Toru Yano) def. Bullet Club (Guerrillas of Destiny & Yujiro)

Apart from some very funny early comedy, as well as similarly hilarious comedy later on with Yano and the turnbuckle madding, the match did not offer much and was made worse by Caprice Coleman on commentary. After a low blow the ref never saw Yano pinned Yujiro for the win, but no celebration would be had as the Guerrillas of destiny would attack and Adam Page would come out with his noose and before he could choke out Yano over the rope Jay Briscoe comes in and save the day leading right into their match. Grade 6/10

Adam Page def. Jay Briscoe – Anything Goes Grudge Match:

Well anything goes was definitely seen as they were viscous with their attacks staring off with chairs, the noose, tables. Adam Page came out so well from this match especially as he defeated a former ROH World Champion and main stay in Jay Briscoe. Seeing the Right of Passage through a table causing lacerations to Page’s knee and Briscoe’s back were an interesting accident that added to the intensity of the match, and following  Briscoe being choked out by the noose, Page hit the Right of Passage for the win, with both men requiring medical attention following the match. Grade 8/10

Kazuchika Okada def. Dalton Castle:

This match was very well fought and included some well placed humor in the match with The Boys of Dalton Castle, especially when a fan in the crowd was fanning Castle and the Boys joined in even giving him a fan to use. Dalton Castle was strong through the match and has made himself appear to be a top contender in ROH, and the loss didn’t hurt him one bit but actually the match boosted him right up. Okada was great as usual a little drained at parts it looked like following the 19 day G1 tournament but performed like the champ he is, counting another Bang-a-rang into a tombstone and followed it up with the Rain Maker to win. Grade 7.5/10

Bobby Fish (C) def. Mark Briscoe – ROH TV Championship:

The match a solid match but did not really provide a wow factor one would expect from two of ROH’s better stars and in a title match, but a solid match none the less. I enjoyed the kick out from Mark Briscoe that was immediately applied lock that was taking a toll on Briscoe’s knee. I was thrown by the “lets go chicken… lets go fish” I felt like I was at a weird restaurant hearing chicken and fish so much. But in the end of the match another falcon’s arrow would finish the Mark and they would embrace with the code of honor with their respect for one another. Grade 6.5/10

The Addiction (C) def. Naito & Evil, Michael Elgin & Hiroshi Tanahashi:

Well oddly a former ROH World Champion in Michael Elgin got a very dull reaction from the Las Vegas, and his partner Tanahashi is heavily cheered by the crowd, even The Addiction got a bigger cheer. The match was interesting to see as all men at points got to show off some skill except for Kazarian. Naito’s tactics were on display and they as always amusing to see especially mixed with the skill he shows, and his partner Evil (aka Watanbe) as improved so much since I first saw him a little over a year ago thanks to the stable Los Ingobernables de Japón. Having Matt Taven on commentary was very hit and miss, especially when he just commented on Elgin’s ego and Tanahashi’s great hair most of the time, which took away some focus from the match, and constantly pointing out the refs mistakes does not look well on ROH, as the ref was making many errors through out the match. The best part of the match was the finish as after interference from Kamaitachi, Daniels was clearing out the opposition with the a tag belt but Evil ducks and Kazarian got hit, but Tanahashi rids Daniels from the ring and focuses on Evil and as Tanahashi sets up for the High Fly Flow, Daniels makes a very gentle tag to Tanahashi’s foot so Tanahashi doesn’t realize the tag. After he hits High Fly Flow the ref won’t count since he was tagged out by Daniels leading to Daniel jackknifing over Tanahashi who is on top of Evil and scores the pinfall and the win to retain, creative finish to a good match. Grade 7.5/10

Adam Cole def. Jay Lethal (C)  – ROH World Championship

This was match of the night as these two men laid it all on the line for the ROH World Championship, after a great build up there were no disappointments for this match both men sold the match excellently. Adam Cole might be the most liked heel in ROH or all of professional wrestling, and Jay Lethal went out in on hell of a match to end his reign at 427 days. It took 2 Last Shots and a shining  wizard thrown in between for Cole to walk away as the ROH World Champion, but the celebration would be short lived as Kyle O’Reilly came out and attacked Cole leaving him knocked out draped in streamers while O’Reilly was over him with the belt before leaving and leaving the belt over his face. Grade 9/10

Overall: 7.3/10 (58/80) This was a solid PPV from Ring of Honor with NJPW, as it showed the strength of the both companies cards instead of some general one-sided NJPW wrestlers wins. This PPV also helped raise the stock of many of the ROH talents as they have recently lost a few names over the last couple months, and were in need of it, having Adam Page and Dalton Castle look like two of the best up and coming talents in the company on full display. The Adam Cole victory needed to happen as Lethal was out of opponents in Ring of Honor as well the next PPV main event looks to be set following O’Reilly’s actions look for Adam Cole vs Kyle O’Reilly for the ROH World Championship soon.