Welcome to an all new edition of Blogs Count Anywhere, the complementary pro wrestling blog to the ODPH podcast & 607TWS (on Twitch and in podcast form). Late Friday afternoon, the Vince McMahon “retirement” story broke and will be covered fully on all the 607 podcasts this coming week. However, the focus for this edition is talking about Ring Of Honor’s return to pay-per-view with :Death Before Dishonor”. This will be the 2nd ROH show led under the direction of AEW owner Tony Khan, who purchased the company earlier this year. In April of 2022 was “SuperCard of Honor” which had a very positive reaction amongst fans. “Death Before Dishonor” hails from Lowell, MA & can be seen on BR Live and traditional PPV outlets domestically (FITE TV internationally) for $39.99. How is the final card shaped up heading into Saturday night? Let’s break it down and see, shall we?
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
RING OF HONOR “DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR” ZERO HOUR pre show - 7pm EST
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Brian Cage & the Gates Of Agony vs. Blake Christian, Tony Deppen and Alex Zayne
Interesting fact to this match: this will be the 2nd consecutive time on ROH PPV that Cage will be wrestling stars from GCW (Ninja Mack was his opponent at Supercard Of Honor in April). Very amped to see “Team GCW” on the card but this is gonna be all Cage/Gates for the win here.
Allysin Kay vs. Willow Nightingale
This will be the match of the pre show. Hopefully these two extremely talented wrestlers will get some time to shine. Nightingale has been popping up on AEW TV as of late so going with Willow for the win.
Shinobi Shadow Squad vs. Trustbusters
This is Ariya Davari’s new gimmick that has been making the rounds on the IWC. Factor in the AEW Rampage promo on Friday and it telegraphs itself. Expecting a Parker Bourdeux sighting as well. Trustbusters get the easy win here.
Colt Cabana vs Anthony Henry
Colt is going to be a focal point of the new ROH regime, esp with all the questions of “would he be back” cause of the whole CM Punk drama. This should be a fun match with Cabana getting the W
Wheeler Yuta
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
ROH “DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR: MAIN CARD - 8PM EST
RUSH VS. DRAGON LEE
The battle of real life brothers should start the show off in a big way. Rush is just getting started with AEW/ROH and Andrade’s La Faccion Ingobernable so i don’t see him taking the L here. Winner: Rush
The Righteous (c) vs. Dalton Castle and The Boys (ROH 6 man tag titles Championship)
Interesting addition to the card as Vincent from The Righteous has been in Impact Wrestling lately. Granted, ROH (& AEW) is home of the “Forbidden Door” deal, but somehow I don’t see the Righteous walking home with the belts. Winner: Castle & the Boys!
WHEELER YUTA (C) VS. DANIEL GARCIA - ROH PURE WRESTLING TITLE
One of the marquee matches on the card, the two young guns from the Blackpool Combat Club (BCC) & Jericho Appreciation Society (JAS) lock it up under PURE rules. This should be an exceptional match but one has to wonder: Yuta keeps referencing the horrible car crash Garcia and some wrestlers from the Buffalo area endured a few years ago. It comes off in such a heel way….are we seeing some early seeds planted for the BCC to go heel, especially with Moxley eventually facing CM Punk for the AEW title. Food for thought. Winner: ANDNEW! Garcia adds to his indy belt collection with a huge win here.
Mercedes Martinez
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
MERCEDES MARTINEZ (C) vs. SERENA DEEB - ROH WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
This should be an exciting match with 2 of the best wrestlers on the planet going at it. The build up has been very good as the former teammates imploded with Deeb wanting the title. I’m only hoping they get plenty of time to work on a stacked main card. This is a coin flip on who could win. They’re both that good. Martinez hasn’t had too much time to really run with the belt, but Deeb winning could build into a bigger storyline for the next few months between these two. Coin is flipped…… Winner: ANDNEW! Deeb
SAMOA JOE (C) VS. JAY LETHAL - ROH TV CHAMPIONSHIP
Very puzzling fans haven’t seen much of Samoa Joe on AEW programming to hype this match up more. Fearing this one is going to be a mess with run-ins form Lethal’s faction with Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh. Once that happens, this match (which should be great) is gonna crash and burn.Not much really else to say about it. Winner: ANDNEW! Lethal
FTR
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
CO-MAIN EVENT: FTR VS THE BRISCOES 2 - ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES (2 OUT OF 3 FALLS)
In a match of the year candidate, these two teams put on a legendary performance. At the time, fans didn’t think we would see this match happen again, let alone this soon. The Briscoes were long rumored NOT to be signed due to past questionable tweets, which have been apologized repeatedly for by the Briscoes previously. However, in the ROH media scrum that I was in attendance for, Tony Khan revealed that the Briscoes were in fact signed to a long-term deal with ROH. This changes everything.
Before that announcement, this match was a no-brainer #ANSTILL. Now, it could flip and arguably should. FTR is the best tag team on the planet right now holding he IWGP, AAA & ROH titles, but with a hall of fame team like the Briscoes sticking around ROH (as they should), FTR losing the belts to build for ALL Out is a great twist in the storyline. Plus if the Brisoces lose here again (even in dramatic fashion), what sense would it make to have them run it back a third time since they wlll be with the company long term? Calling: ANDNEW! Briscoes win setting up for a triple threat, everything on the line (AEW, ROH, IWGP & AAA) with FTR & Strickland/Lee for All Out.
Claudio Castagnoli
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Tully Blanchard Enterprises w/ Jonathan Gresham
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
MAIN EVENT: JONATHAN GRESHAM (C) VS. CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI - ROH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
This will be a technical classic for the ages. Claudio is been on fire since debuting in AEW at “Forbidden Door”. He has been featured on AEW programming very well as a member of the BCC, and even more so due to the absence of Bryan Danielson. His arrival in ROH wasn’t so far fetched (check out the last Blogs Count Anywhere) and is now in the world title picture. Not too shabby of a debut in AEW/ROH.
On the flipside, Gresham has been ROH champion for quite some time and hasn’t been featured until recently. This has been a disservice imo. Gresham IS the best technical wrestler on the planet. He should have been featured more long before this show (a weekly Rampage spot at the bare minimum). Gresham’s pairing with Tully Blanchard comes off very forced and not sure what to expect long term, but for now, its a quick build to this math. Maybe we get BCC vs. TBE after this to drive ROH stories for a while? Who Knows.
As for this match, it’s all ANDNEW! Claudio. he’s got all the momentum right now and I can’t see the powers that be not making the switch. The only way I don’t see this happens is if post-match, Danielson walks out to challenge Gresham or a new signee makes a debut (Johnny Gargano anyone?). If that doesn’t happen, the Claudio era begins. Can’t be mad about that.
Photo Credit: Glory Pro Wreslting
Photo Credit: National Wrestling Alliance
Lastly, it was announced that the National Wrestling Alliance will be bringing back the United States Tag Team Championships! The winners of this champions will be crowned at NWA 74 (Aug. 28, 2022) via a 10 team battle royale. Participants will be announced but with how fantastic their tag matches have been (see Briscoes vs Commonwealth Connection pictured below as a prime example), this is somehting to get amped up for at the NWA’s biggest show of the year! for more information: NWA on Twitter!
Briscoes vs. Commonwealth Connection (National Wrestling Alliance)
Photo Credit: Hiban Huerta
That’s all the pro wrestling talk for this edition. Make sure you’re following all the 607podcasts for all the pro wrestling coverage you need called right down the middle. Hit me up on Twitter and let me know what pro wrestling you’re checking out.
Thanks for reading.