29th Sep2018

‘Ring of Honor: Death Before Dishonor’ Pay Per View Review

by Nathan Favel

Welcome to this review of Ring of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor Pay Per View, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have seven matches to get to, so let’s do so.

Match #1: Kenny King beat Jushin Liger

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My Take: 3 out of 5

This was a good match that was booked to establish King as a heel, or at least getting closer to it. The action was good but the crowd didn’t seem to care. The crowd became a bit of a problem all night, by the way. Over-all, this was a good opener.

Match #2: The Briscoes (Jay and Mark) beat So-Cal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) – Ring of Honor Tag Team Titles Match

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My Take: 3.5 out of 5

This was an excellent match that the crowd had no interest in, for the most part. These two teams worked hard, but couldn’t get the people excited for the match. You can expect lots of great moves and moments here, but it got brought down by a lack of interest from the spectators.

Match #3: Sumie Sakai beat Tenille Dashwood – Women of Honor World Title

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My Take: 3.5 out of 5

This was another strong match, but it got done in by an extended submission hold that became too ridiculous to be taken seriously. The hold in question was an attempt to replicate the Bret Hart/Bob Backlund submission spot from the early ‘90s, but it just didn’t have the same effect. As far as the rest of the action, it was a fine array of some the best that these women can do.

Match #4: Punishment Martinez beat Chris Sabin – Ring of Honor Television Title Match

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My Take: 3.5 out of 5

This had lots of good action and made for a fun clash of styles. Sabin gave Martinez one of his best Ring of Honor matches to date and Martinez really came into his own here. They did a referee bump that ruined some of the match’s momentum, but it didn’t kill it. The champion was made to look legitimate, so I have no qualms here about how both men were treated by the booking.

Match #5: Silas Young and Bully Ray beat Flip Gordon and Colt Cabana – Tag Team Tables Match

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My Take: 3 out of 5

This was a good match that was ruined by wonky booking at the end. The idea was to show Ray as a cheater who used the referee’s being knocked out (another bad referee bump) as a way to put a tired Flip on top of a broken table to pretend he had put him through it. On free TV, this might have stood as “controversial” television, but on PPV, it felt lazy.

Match #6: The Bullet Club beat CHAOS – Ten-Man Tag Team Match

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My Take: 4 out of 5

This match had no references to the Jay White attack on Kazuchika Okada from last weekend’s New Japan card, at least not in the ring. The action was relentless and was enough to get the crowd to react. These guys beat the hell out of each other and could have been the main event if there wasn’t a World Title match to look forward to.

Match #7: Main Event – Jay Lethal beat Will Ospreay – Ring of Honor World Title Match

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My Take: 4.5 out of 5

This is the way it’s supposed to be. The main event stole the show and did it without resorting to cheap thrills to do it. Ospreay gave one of his best performances yet in a match where the currently-controversial champion, Jay Lethal, gave one of his best performances of the year. There was more wrestling here from Ospreay than usual and he really turned the corner in how he presented himself. Ospreay could be a great World Champion in the near future. It would appear that Lethal’s sexual harassment allegations will not be taking a toll on his immediate future, so we can expect to see him remain in this role, for the time being.

News Of The Night:

  1. Tenille Dashwood was attacked by a mystery person after her match was over.
  2. Cody Rhodes will fight Nick Aldis in a 2/3 Falls Match, which I believe is for the NWA World Title re-match at the NWA 70th Anniversary show.
  3. The Kingdom is now in a feud with Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham after attacking the champion during his victory celebration. Gresham had come to the champion’s defense but met calamity at the hands of The Kingdom.
  4. Matt Taven now appears to be the number one contender to the World Title after he personally assaulted Jay Lethal with a replica of the World Title.

Final Verdict: 3.5 out of 5 – This was an excellent card that didn’t come to life until the final two matches. The whole night had some fine wrestling, but final match is what made this card into some-thing people will remember. Lethal still doesn’t have quite the momentum he did as the champion the first time, but it also remains to be seen how much his alleged sex crimes have played a part in the way many have seen him now as compared to just a few years ago. Altogether, Ring of Honor had a strong night that was not a complete success, but it was one of the better efforts of their year.

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