ROH: Two new champions crowned at Death Before Dishonor

ROH: Two new champions crowned at Death Before Dishonor

As a seasoned wrestling enthusiast with years of ringside tales to share, I can confidently say that the world of ROH is as thrilling and unpredictable as ever. The Summer pay-per-view, Death Before Dishonor, was a rollercoaster ride filled with drama, suspense, and record-breaking performances. ATHENA’s reign continues to shine brighter than a thousand neon lights, yet it seems the spotlight is elusive, much like the elusive acknowledgment from AEW and ROH.


On July 26, Ring of Honor (ROH) held its summer pay-per-view event titled “Death Before Dishonor“. A total of six titles were up for grabs. The tag team titles remained with The Kingdom, thanks to meddling from ex-ROH TV Champion Kyle Fletcher and Don Callis. Atlantis, Jr. emerged victorious in a Survival of the Fittest match involving five other competitors, successfully defending his TV title. Mark Briscoe triumphed over Roderick Strong in an impressive main event to keep hold of the World Championship.

With a distraction from her minion, Billie Starkz, and an assist from her other minion, Lexy Nair, ATHENA retained the Women’s Championship. On Wednesday, the “Fallen Goddess” surpassed 600 days as champion. She is just 46 days from breaking Samoa Joe’s record for longest reigning World champion. She’s already surpassed his reign when he was TV champion (574 days). She is 53-0 in ROH-sanctioned singles matches. 

Despite her reign maintaining unprecedented and record-breaking success, neither AEW nor ROH recognized this achievement on Wednesday. Notably, there was no visual acknowledgement (Jade Cargill received one when she hit 500 days as the TBS Champion) and they even failed to retweet the champion’s own post about it.

During Briscoe’s matches on Dynamite, ATHENA’s accomplishment went unacknowledged. This isn’t unexpected since she doesn’t frequently get to defend her title on AEW broadcasts, unlike the other male champions. However, it’s worth noting that she did have one opportunity to defend it, which was during Battle of the Belts X. Yet, this is the only instance where she defended it on AEW programming that wasn’t Dark.

Discussing Starkz, she successfully defended her Women’s Television Championship for the initial time since capturing it at Supercard of Honor. During her 112-day rule, she engaged in five Proving Ground matches. Unfortunately, she lost the title to Red Velvet during her first defense. This has led many to question why she won it initially, given that Velvet was among the contenders for the inaugural champion title.

It’s a reasonable query, as the reason behind it was so that ATHENA and her protege could hold titles concurrently. By relinquishing the title, Starkz opens up an opportunity for herself to possibly unseat her mentor during the upcoming Final Battle, where she previously attempted to dethrone ATHENA but fell short last year.

At Death Before Dishonor, there was another title switch-up. In episode 71, Lee Moriarty persisted in a Proving Ground bout with Wheeler Yuta for more than 10 minutes. This tenacity earned him a title opportunity. As expected, this chance came at the following major event. The initial Proving Ground match was impressive, but the rematch, which had the championship at stake, was even more exceptional. In truth, it was considered Match of the Night by many viewers, alongside ATHENA vs. Queen Aminata. Moriarty ultimately emerged victorious over Yuta after almost 20 minutes to claim the Pure title.

Despite the incident at Collision, there was still another title match up for grabs. At Death Before Dishonor, the Dark Order took on The Von Erichs and Dustin Rhodes. The winning team would earn a chance to challenge Undisputed Kingdom for the Six-Man Tag Titles the following day. On Friday and Saturday, The Von Erichs and Rhodes emerged victorious, claiming the titles as their own.

It seems quite probable that the Unified Trios Championships were divided, allowing two esteemed wrestling dynasties to claim titles in Texas. I don’t mind this change at all. In my opinion, the championships shouldn’t have been unified from the start. It’s truly impressive to see Marshall and Ross continuing their family’s wrestling legacy, particularly here in Texas. This victory marks Rhodes’ first AEW title after five years with the company, and it’s his first individual title since he and his brother held tag titles over a decade ago.

In Episode 75, the Six-Man titles were genuinely contested in a title bout (as opposed to a Proving Ground match), marking the sole title encounter of the broadcast. The show commenced with Yuta wrestling, while Moriarty made an appearance via video. Post-match comments from ATHENA and Briscoe, which were previously shared on social media, were also featured during the episode. Meanwhile, backstage, The Kingdom encountered The Infantry. Regrettably, Red Velvet and Atlantis, Jr. did not make an appearance in this episode.

Hopefully, with the arrival of new champions and a multi-week stay at the ESports Stadium, Honor Club might regain its footing, offering more significant narratives and matches compared to the period spanning from Supercard to Death Before Dishonor.

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2024-08-02 15:45

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