Less than a month after a highly successful two-night Glory by Honor event, Ring of Honor returns to the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia for Death Before Dishonor. Over the years, this particular event has turned into one of the major events for Ring of Honor and has given us such memorable matches as Samoa Joe vs. Paul London in 2003, the brutal ROH vs. CZW Cage of Death match in 2005, and more recently RUSH defeating Matt Taven in 2019 to win his first of two ROH World Titles. Last year’s event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic but this year it looks to be a pretty stacked card! Let’s take a look and see what’s been announced as of press time.
Pre-Show Match: 15-Man Honor Rumble
I’ll briefly touch on the pre-show match before moving on to the main card. This time around for the pre-show, it’s a 15-Man Honor Rumble. It’s basically the ROH version of a Royal Rumble and the winner of this will get a future shot at the ROH World Title. Only 10 of the 15 competitors for the match have been announced (Danhausen, The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brian Milonas), PJ Black, Dak Draper, Rey Horus, Brian Johnson, Joe Keys, Silas Young, and Sledge) which leaves room for some outside surprises.
The OGK (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) vs. The Briscoes (Jay & Mark)
Moving on to the main card now and I’ll start with this recently announced tag team match between the The OGK and the Briscoes. Jay Briscoe missed the Glory by Honor events due to COVID protocol and Mark was forced to go at it alone on Night 1 against Bateman and teamed with Brian Johnson on Night 2. The real story here though will be Matt Taven. He lost an absolutely brutal war to Vincent on Night 2 of Glory by Honor, which cost him his rematch for the ROH World Title. The question is how will he rebound from that now that the long running feud between Taven and Vincent is over? If the OGK have any shot at beating the Briscoes, they’ll need to be on the same page. Taven will need to have his head in the game and not think about Vincent and his merry band of misfits known as the Righteous.
Jake Atlas vs. Taylor Rust
As confirmed on the ”Week By Week” YouTube show on September 7th, these are the two free agents that ROH had been promoting as facing each other on the show. Both were part of the August NXT releases. Atlas has only had one previous ROH match, a loss to Bateman in September of 2019, and Rust was part of the Pure tournament last fall under the name Rust Taylor. Recently, he was featured on NXT programming as part of the Diamond Mine stable as Tyler Rust. Regardless of who wins, this has the potential to be a very good match.
ROH World Six-Man Championship:
LFI (Bestia del Ring, Kenny King, & ROH World TV Champion Dragon Lee) vs. ROH World Six-Man Champions Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor & S.O.S. (Moses & Kaun))
On the February 19th episode of ROH TV, Shane Taylor Promotions (aka S.T.P.) beat Mexisquad (Bandido, Flamita, and Rey Horus) to win the titles. Since then, S.T.P. has turned away the challenge of trios such as Primal Fear, Incoherence, and a tandem of Dak Draper, Dalton Castle, and Eli Isom. The week after the title win, Shane Taylor challenged then-ROH World Champion RUSH but lost due to interference from Kenny King. The catch here for LFI is that the aforementioned RUSH is now lost for the rest of 2021 due to a knee injury and subbing for him here is his father, Bestia del Ring. There’s also perhaps some small seeds of dissension sewn with Dragon Lee and the rest of LFI in recent weeks as Dragon Lee has not partaken in the constant attacks on ROH World Champion Bandido. Before RUSH went down with an injury, I was sure that LFI would pick up the titles. Now, not so much, and I feel like the winner of this will have the trio of The Bouncers and Ken Dixon waiting for them so I’m going with S.T.P. to retain.
Violence Unlimited (Tony Deppen and ROH World Tag Team Champions Chris Dickinson & Homicide) vs. John Walters, LSG, & Lee Moriarty
Another trios match on the docket places 3/4 of Violence Unlimited against a team being billed as the “Past, Present, and Future” of the Pure Division in former ROH Pure Champion John Walters, LSG, and up and coming independent star Lee Moriarty. Walters will be seeing his first ROH action since the Pure Tournament last fall, while LSG has been climbing the ranks of the Pure Division and is currently the number 2 ranked challenger. The wild card here is Moriarty. He’s been one of the hottest stars of the independent circuit and has competed for the likes of GCW, MLW, and even several matches on the AEW YouTube shows. I don’t see the Pure trio getting past the likes of Violence Unlimited, even though it should be a very entertaining match.
Eli Isom vs. Dalton Castle
Dalton Castle has pretty much been meddling in the affairs of Eli Isom and Dak Draper for several months now. The three teamed together at the Best in the World PPV back in July in a losing effort to Shane Taylor Promotions and then fought in a three-way bout on TV a week or so later. Most recently, Castle’s shenanigans caused Isom to lose to Dragon Lee in a World TV Championship match. Despite Castle’s theatrics, he is a former ROH World Champion so he’s not one to be taken lightly. I do see Isom coming out with the victory here as he’s one of the young stars that ROH has been pushing a lot on their TV since their restart.
ROH Pure Championship:
Josh Woods vs. ROH Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham
Since winning the Pure Championship last fall, Jonathan Gresham has been pretty much unbeatable. He’s turned back the challenges of the likes of Tony Deppen, Dak Draper, Mike Bennett, and most recently Foundation stablemate Rhett Titus. Woods has been climbing up the Pure rankings as well and most recently beat former tag team partner Silas Young in a Last Man Standing match at the Best in the World pay-per-view. Woods has fantastic technical prowess and and should be able to match Gresham hold for hold. I expect this to be an instant classic and I also smell a title change here.
ROH Women’s Championship Tournament Finals:
Rok-C vs. Miranda Alize
Rok-C and Miranda Alize are the two who survived a 15-woman tournament that was heavily featured on the weekly TV show throughout the month of August. Rok-C got here by beating Sumie Sakai in the first round (a major upset if you ask me), Quinn McKay, and Angelina Love. Alize claimed victories over Alex Gracia, Nicole Savoy, and a hard fought semi-final match over Trish Adora. Both of these ladies match up well together and were both trained by Booker T and competed in the Reality of Wrestling promotion. Back at the Best in the World PPV, Chelsea Green put out a challenge to whoever wins the tournament and because of that, I’m going with Rok-C. Regardless of who wins, this should be a good match.
Four Way Elimination Match for the ROH World Championship:
ROH World Champion Bandido vs. Brody King vs. Demonic Flamita vs. EC3
All three challengers here have legitimate claims to the ROH World Title. Going all the way back to Final Battle 2020, Brody King was cheated out of the title due to interference from LFI in his match against then-champion RUSH. He also mauled former ROH World Champion Jay Lethal in less than ten minutes at the Best in the World PPV in July. Demonic Flamita has been a thorn in Bandido’s side since the break-up of Mexi-Squad at the 19th Anniversary PPV. He’s been on a roll too, having won a six-man mayhem match at Glory By Honor to earn this title shot and also recently beating formed Mexi-Squad stablemate Rey Horus in a No Disqualification Match on ROH TV. Speaking of those who’ve been on a roll, EC3 has recent wins over the likes of Flip Gordon and Brian Johnson and is a former Impact/TNA World Champion. Despite the credentials of the challengers, I think Bandido retains here since I feel it’s a bit too early for him to drop the title as he just beat RUSH back in July.
Wrestle Inn 